GLA Reduces Flying in Response to Crew Shortages

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

GREAT LAKES AVIATION REDUCES FLYING IN RESPONSE TO CREW SHORTAGES

Spencer, Iowa – August 24, 1999 – Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. (NASDAQ:GLUX) today announced that, in response to continuing flight crew attrition, it was reducing flying at a number of its service points. Great Lakes and other regional carriers have served as the training and hiring source for larger airlines who operate jet equipment. The company's ongoing pilot hiring and training efforts have not been able to keep pace with the recent accelerated hiring activities of these larger carriers. As a result, the company is reducing the scope of its United Express flight schedule on short notice in order to improve the reliability of its core schedule structure in Denver and Chicago-O'Hare where it provides feed traffic to and from United Airlines' hub networks.

Beginning August 26, 1999 Great Lakes will suspend its United Express flights to and from Minneapolis/St. Paul. Cities affected are Devils Lake and Jamestown in North Dakota, Fairmont in Minnesota and Brookings and Huron in South Dakota. At Huron, flights to Denver will continue without interruption. Alternate travel arrangements at other nearby airports will be coordinated at no additional cost to passengers ticketed for travel after the suspension of flights.

In addition, selective reductions are planned in a number of markets at both Denver and Chicago, primarily in markets with a high frequency of flights. In most cases, flights would have been reduced after Labor Day as part of a seasonal reduction in service following the peak summer travel period.

Denver markets include Cheyenne and Gillette in Wyoming, Pierre in South Dakota, Willison in North Dakota, Gunnison and Hayden/Steamboat Springs in Colorado and Farmington and Santa Fe in New Mexico. At Chicago-O'Hare International Airport, service to Mount Vernon, Illinois will be suspended and service to Lafayette, Indiana will be reduced from three to two round trips.

"While service disruptions are never a pleasant action to take, we find ourselves in a position that action had to be taken to insure that the company could continue to provide reliable United Express service in its core markets. These include many locations where Great Lakes is providing the only air service, some of which is being provided under the Essential Air Service program, and where there are not other nearby alternate air service options", said Doug Voss, Great Lakes' president and chief executive officer. "Our hiring and training activities are continuing at a rapid pace to insure that the highest quality United Express product can continue to be provided throughout the Great Lakes/United Express route structure", he added.

Great Lakes Aviation currently provides United Express service at 69 airports in fourteen states with a fleet of eight Embraer EMB-120 Brasilias and 40 Raytheon/Beechcraft B1900D regional airliners.

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