Great Lakes Aviation Reports Higher March Traffic With Highest Ever March Enplanements

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Dick Fontaine
Senior VP of Marketing
(712)262-1000

GREAT LAKES AVIATION REPORTS HIGHER MARCH TRAFFIC WITH HIGHEST EVER MARCH PASSENGER ENPLANEMENTS

Spencer, Iowa – April 11, 2000 – Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. (NASDAQ:GLUX) today announced preliminary passenger traffic results for the month of March. Passengers carried represented new record high March.

Scheduled service generated 21,349,665 revenue passenger miles (RPMs), a 1.3 percent increase from the same month last year. Available seat miles (ASMs) decreased 3.7 percent to 45,059,448. As a result, load factor increased 2.3 points to 47.4 percent. Passengers carried increased 10.1 percent over March, 1999 to 89,391, and also represents a new record high for the month of March.

For the three months ended March 31, 2000 compared to the same three month period in 1999, revenue passenger miles (RPMs) increased 1.3 percent to 58,955,574 while available seat miles (ASM's) decreased 5.5 percent to 127,988,263, resulting in a load factor of 46.1 percent for the year 2000 compared to 43.0 percent for the same three month period in 1999. The company carried 246,518 revenue passengers for the three month period ending March 31, 2000, an 11.1 percent increase on a year over year basis.

MARCH AND YEAR-TO-DATE STATISTICS

	Mar., 1999	Mar., 1998	Change
Passengers Enplaned	89,391	81,177	+10.1%
Revenue Passenger Miles (000)	21,350	21,084	+1.3%
Available Seat Miles (000)	45,059	46,801	-3.7%
Load Factor	47.4%	45.1%	+2.3 Pts.

	YTD 2000	YTD 1999	Change
Passenger Enplaned	246,518	221,813	+11.1%
Revenue Passenger Miles (000)	58,956	58,201	+1.3%
Available Seat Miles (000)	127,988	135,479	-5.5%
Load Factor	46.1%	43.0%	+3.1 Pts.

As of April 2, 2000, United Express flights were being provided at 63 airports in fourteen states with a fleet of eight Embraer EMB-120 Brasilias and 40 Raytheon/Beech 1900D regional airliners. A total of 294 weekday flights are scheduled at three hubs, with 72 flights at Chicago-O'Hare, 214 flights at Denver and 8 flights at Minneapolis-St. Paul. In addition, the company operates four weekday round trip flights between Springfield, Illinois and Chicago-Meigs Field. All Scheduled flights are operated under the United Express marketing identity.

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