CHEYENNE, Wyo., May 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. (OTC:GLUX) (BULLETIN BOARD: GLUX) today announced preliminary passenger traffic results for the month of April 2006. Scheduled service generated 9,698,000 revenue passenger miles (RPM's), a 16.5 percent increase from the same month last year. Available seat miles (ASM's) increased 5.0 percent to 22,749,000. As a result, load factor increased 4.2 points to 42.63 percent. Passengers carried increased 19.3 percent to 37,111 when compared to April 2005. Preliminary revenue per available seat mile (RASM) increased 19.8 percent from 23.52 cents to 28.17 cents. For the four months ending April 30, 2006 compared to the same four month period in 2005, revenue passenger miles (RPM's) increased 8.7 percent to 39,644,000 and available seat miles (ASM's) increased 6.3% percent to 93,333,000, resulting in a load factor of 42.48 percent for the year 2006 effecting an increase in load factor of 0.9 points compared to the same four month period in 2005. The company carried 151,068 revenue passengers for the four month period ending April 30, 2006, a 11.3 percent increase from the prior year. Preliminary revenue per available seat mile (RASM) increased 16.5 percent from 23.93 cents to 27.87 cents on a year-over-year basis. APRIL 2006 AND YEAR TO DATE STATISTICS Apr-06 Apr-05 Change Passengers Enplaned 37,111 31,110 19.3% Revenue Passenger Miles (000) 9,698 8,327 16.5% Available Seat Miles (000) 22,749 21,674 5.0% Load Factor 42.63% 38.42% 4.2 pts RASM (cents) 28.17 23.52 19.8% YTD 2006 YTD 2005 Change Passengers Enplaned 151,068 135,773 11.3% Revenue Passenger Miles (000) 39,644 36,476 8.7% Available Seat Miles (000) 93,333 87,802 6.3% Load Factor 42.48% 41.54% 0.9 pts RASM (cents) 27.87 23.93 16.5% Great Lakes is providing scheduled passenger service at 40 airports in ten states with a fleet of Embraer EMB-120 Brasilias and Raytheon/Beech 1900D regional airliners. A total of 192 weekday flights are scheduled at three hubs, with 136 flights at Denver, 8 flights at Albuquerque, and 20 flights at Phoenix. All scheduled flights are operated under the Great Lakes Airlines marketing identity in conjunction with code-share agreements with United Airlines and Frontier Airlines at the Denver International Airport and Phoenix International Airport hubs. Additional information is available on the company web site that may be accessed at http://www.flygreatlakes.com/ Contact: Michael Matthews, VP Finance/CFO (307) 432-7000 DATASOURCE: Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. CONTACT: Michael Matthews, VP Finance/CFO of Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd., +1-307-432-7000 Web site: http://www.flygreatlakes.com/

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