Great Lakes Reports December, Fourth Quarter & full Year, 1999 Traffic

GREAT LAKES AVIATION REPORTS DECEMBER, FOURTH QUARTER AND FULL YEAR, 1999 TRAFFIC; DECEMBER AND FOURTH QUARTER PASSENGER AND LOAD FACTOR AT HIGHEST EVER LEVELS.

Spencer, Iowa – January 6, 2000– Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. (NASDAQ:GLUX) today announced preliminary passenger traffic results for the month of December, the fourth quarter and the full year 1999.

Although December enplaned passengers increased, revenue passenger miles were lower than the same month a year ago because of significant changes in the company's United Express route network. Average passenger trip length declined 11 percent from 272 miles in 1998 to 243 miles in 1999, a result of the deletion of service in longer haul markets at Denver and Chicago-O'Hare and the addition of shorter haul, higher yield markets in Denver.

For December, scheduled service generated 21,160,843 revenue passenger miles (RPMs), a 6.6 percent decrease from the same month last year. Available seat miles (ASMs) decreased 14.2 percent to 41,791,858. As a result load factor increased 4.1 points to 50.6 percent, the highest ever December load factor for the company. Revenue passengers boarded increased 4.6 percent over December, 1998 to 87,067, and represents a new record high for the month of December.

For the quarter ending December 31, 1999, scheduled service generated 64,678,000 revenue passenger miles (RPMs), a 5.0 percent decrease from the same quarter last year. Available seat miles (ASMs) decreased 12.0 percent to 122,719,000. As a result load factor improved 3.8 points to 52.7 percent. The company carried 264,763 passengers, a 7.6% increase compared to the fourth quarter in 1998.

For the twelve months ended December 31, 1999 compared to the same twelve month period in 1998, RPMs increased 16.0 percent to 265,718,000 while ASMs increased 17.9 percent to 526,093,000, resulting in a 50.5 percent load factor for 1999 compared to 51.3 percent for the same twelve months in 1998. The company carried 1,057,739 passengers for the twelve months ended December 31, 1999, a 32.8 percent increase on a year over year basis and a new record high for annual enplanements.

	Dec. 1999	Dec. 1998	Change
Passengers Enplaned	87,067	83,244	+4.6%
Revenue Passenger Miles (000)	21,161	22,653	-6.6%
Available Seat Miles (000)	41,792	48,708	-14.2%
Load Factor	50.6%	46.5%	+4.1 Pts.

	4Q 1999	4Q 1998	Change
Passenger Enplaned	264,763	246,084	+7.6%
Revenue Passenger Miles (000)	64,678	68,116	-5.0%
Available Seat Miles (000)	122,719	139,405	-12.0%
Load Factor	52.7%	48.9%	+3.8 Pts.
	YTD 1999	YTD 1998	Change
Passengers Enplaned	1,057,739	796,647	+32.8%
Revenue Passenger Miles (000)	265,718	229,155	+16.0%
Available Seat Miles (000)	526,093	446,330	+17.9%
Load Factor	50.5%	51.3%	-0.8 Pts.

As of January 5, 2000, scheduled service was being provided at 64 airports in fourteen states with a fleet of eight Embraer EMB-120 Brasilias and 40 Raytheon/Beech 1900D regional airliners. A total of 296 weekday flights are scheduled at three hubs with 92 flights at Chicago-O'Hare International Airport, 196 at Denver and 8 at Minneapolis-St. Paul. In addition, the company operates 8 weekday flights between Springfield, IL and Chicago-Meigs Field. All scheduled flights are operated under the United Express marketing identity under a code-share agreement with United Airlines.