Great Lakes Reports Record August Traffic

GREAT LAKES AVIATION REPORTS RECORD AUGUST TRAFFIC; PASSENGERS CARRIED UP 15.6 PERCENT WITH LOAD FACTOR AT 58.2%

Spencer, Iowa – September 8, 1999 – Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. (NASDAQ:GLUX) today announced preliminary passenger traffic results for the month of August.

Scheduled service generated 26,817,175 revenue passenger miles (RPMs), a 1.5 percent decrease from the same month last year. Available seat miles (ASMs) decreased 3.0 percent to 46,109,766. As a result load factor increased 1.0 point to 58.2 percent, the highest August load factor in the company's history. Passenger trip length declined 14.9 percent from 289 miles in 1998 to 246 miles in 1999, reflecting the addition of flying in shorter stage length markets in Denver. The company carried 108,925 passengers, a 15.6 percent increase compared to August, 1998 and representing a new record passenger total for August. A new daily boarding record was also set when 4,103 revenue passengers were enplaned on August 6, 1999.

For the eight month period ended August 31, 1999 compared to the same eight month period in 1998, RPMs increased 14.8 percent to 178,168,272 while ASMs increased 18.9 percent to 361,703,646, resulting in a load factor of 49.3 percent for 1999 compared to 51.0 percent for the same eight month period in 1998. The company carried 698,463 passengers for the eight months ended August 31, 1999, a 30.5 percent increase on a year-over-year basis.

"August traffic continues the recent trend of strong growth in the company's Denver markets", said Douglas G. Voss, Great Lakes' president and chief executive officer. "We are also pleased to see positive passenger response to the reassignment of the 30 seat Brasilia fleet to the Chicago-O'Hare hub", he added.

	AUG., 1999	AUG., 1998	Change
Passengers Enplaned	108,925	94,257	+15.6%
Revenue Passenger Miles (000)	26,817	27,217	-1.5%
Available Seat Miles (000)	46,110	47,560	-3.0%
Load Factor	58.2%	57.2%	+1.0 Pts.

	YTD 1999	YTD 1998	Change
Passengers Enplaned	698,463	535,369	+30.5%
Revenue Passenger Miles (000)	178,168	155,265	+14.8%
Available Seat Miles (000)	361,704	304,143	+18.9%
Load Factor	49.3%	51.0%	-1.7 Pts.

As previously announced, Great Lakes inaugurated United Express flights at Casper, Wyoming on September 7, 1999 and discontinued its United Express flights between Denver and both Bismarck, North Dakota and Gunnison, Colorado on September 6, 1999. Also, beginning September 7th, frequency was reduced in Minneapolis/St. Paul subsidized markets that had been operating at low load factors

As of September 7, 1999, United Express flights were being provided at 68 airports in fourteen states with a fleet of eight Embraer EMB-120 Brasilias and 40 Beechcraft 1900D's. A total of 292 weekday flights are scheduled at three hubs, 82 flights at Chicago O'Hare, 198 at Denver and 12 at Minneapolis-St. Paul. In addition, the company operates 4 weekday round trip flights between Springfield, Illinois and Chicago-Meigs Field. All Scheduled flights are operated under the United Express marketing identity.