FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Dick Fontaine GREAT LAKES AVIATION REPORTS JANUARY TRAFFIC; RPM'S UP 38.1% AND PASSENGERS CARRIED UP 57.7% Spencer, Iowa -- February 9, 1999 -- Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. (NASDAQ:GLUX) today announced preliminary passenger traffic results for the month of January. Scheduled service generated 18,528,000 revenue passenger miles (RPMs), a 38.1 percent increase from the same month last year. Available seat miles (ASMs) increased 43.3 percent to 44,949,000. As a result load factor declined 1.6 points to 41.2 percent. The company carried 70,002 passengers, a 57.7 percent increase compared to January, 1998. JANUARY STATISTICS
January, 1999 traffic and capacity levels were severely impacted by one of the worst snowstorms in history at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. Company operations at O'Hare were virtually shut down for two days due to the snowstorm and dense fog severely impacted operations on several other days. Traffic also reflects a change in the mix of traffic to a greater concentration in shorter passenger trip lengths with the addition of scheduled service at 24 communities from United Airlines' Denver hub. As of February 1, 1999, scheduled service was being provided at 69 airports in thirteen states with a fleet of eight Embraer EMB-120 Brasilias and 40 Beechcraft 1900D regional airliners. A total of 312 weekday flights are offered at its three hubs with 96 flights at Chicago-O'Hare, 194 at Denver and 22 at Minneapolis-St. Paul. In addition, the company operates 8 weekday flights between Springfield, IL and Chicago-Meigs Field. All flights are operated under the United Express marketing identity. |