Great Lakes Reports Strong August, 1998 Traffic

GREAT LAKES AVIATION REPORTS STRONG AUGUST, 1998 TRAFFIC WITH LOAD FACTOR AT 57.1%

Spencer, Iowa -- September 8, 1998 -- Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. (NASDAQ:GLUX) today announced preliminary passenger traffic results for the month of August.

Scheduled service generated 27,153,000 revenue passenger miles (RPMs), a 56.6 percent increase from the same month last year. Available seat miles (ASMs) increased 3.7 points to 51.1 percent. The company carried 93,972 passengers, a 66.1 percent increase compared to August, 1997.

For the eight month period ended August 31, 1998 compared to the same eight month period in 1997, RPMs increased 9.8 percent to 155,201,000 while ASMs declined 2.6 percent to 304,143,000, resulting in a load factor of 51.0 percent for 1998 compared to 45.3 percent for the same eight month period in 1997. The company carried 535,076 passengers for the eight months ended August 31, 1998, a 13.3 percent increase on a year over year basis.

	August 1998	August 1997	Change
Passengers Enplaned	93,972	52,570	+66.1%
Revenue Passenger Miles (000)	27,153	17,342	+56.6%
Available Seat Miles (000)	47,560	32,484	+46.4%
Load Factor	57.1%	53.4%	+3.7 Pts.

	YTD 1998	YTD 1997	Change
Passengers Enplaned	535,076	472,124	+13.3%
Revenue Passenger Miles (000)	155,201	141,378	+9.8%
Available Seat Miles (000)	304,143	312,214	-2.6%
Load Factor	51.0%	45.3%	+5.7 Pts.

August, 1998 traffic and capacity levels reflect the addition of service at 19 new cities in the company's United Express network at Denver. In addition, during the latter part of August, traffic was positively impacted by the curtailment of flights by Northwest Airlines and Northwest Airlink. The greatest gains were in North and South Dakota, Michigan and Wisconsin markets.

"The Company continues to be pleased with the Company's traffic results reflecting the more efficient use of our resources on a year over year basis" said Douglas G. Voss, Great Lakes' president and chief executive officer.

As of August 31, 1998, 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 266 weekday flights are offered at its three hubs with 100 flights at Chicago-O'Hare, 148 at Denver and 18 at Minneapolis-St. Paul. In addition, the company operates 8 weekday flights between Springfield, IL and Chicago-Meigs Field. The flights are operated under the United Express marketing identity.