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| Founded | 1977; 48 years ago (1977) | ||||||
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| Ceased operations | March 26, 2018; 7 years ago (2018-03-26) | ||||||
| AOC # | GLBA031A | ||||||
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| Fleet size | 28 | ||||||
| Destinations | 10[1] | ||||||
| Parent company | Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. | ||||||
| Traded as | Expert Market: GLUX | ||||||
| Headquarters | Cheyenne,Wyoming,United States | ||||||
| Founders |
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Great Lakes Airlines was an American regionalairline operating domestic scheduled and charter services. Corporate headquarters were inCheyenne,Wyoming,[2] with a hub atDenver International Airport.
As of November 2013, Great Lakes Airlines received $58,299,575 in annual federal subsidies forEssential Air Services that they provided to rural airports in the U.S.[3]
Great Lakes Airlines was a largeUnited Express feeder carrier from 1992 to 2002 operating to over 100 cities.
On March 26, 2018, the airline stopped scheduled passenger flights, but continued to supportAerodynamics Inc. flights[4] through September 1, 2018.[5]
The airline was established by Doug Voss and Ivan Simpson and started operations on April 5, 1977 asSpirit Lake Airways.[6] It was reorganised and began scheduled services on October 12, 1981, asGreat Lakes Airlines with flights betweenSpencer andDes Moines, Iowa. In February 1988, Great Lakes acquiredAlliance Airlines.
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In February 1992 Great Lakes signed acodeshare agreement withUnited Airlines becoming aUnited Express feeder carrier. From 1992 through 2002 Great Lakes operated extensive United Express operations with hubs at Chicago O'Hare and Denver and also at Minneapolis where United Airlines did not have a hub operation. Other United Express operations were also flown betweenPhoenix andPage, Arizona;Detroit toAlpena andSault Ste. Marie, Michigan; and a shuttle operation betweenSpringfield, Illinois and Chicago'sMeigs Field. All flights were operated with 19-seatBeechcraft 1900D and 30-seatEmbraer 120 Brasilia aircraft. On June 1, 1998 the airline greatly expanded its Denver hub by adding the United Express routes formerly operated byMesa Airlines.
Prior to the relocation of the headquarters to Cheyenne, Great Lakes was headquartered inSummit Township,Clay County,Iowa, bySpencer Municipal Airport and near thecity of Spencer.[7]
By early 1995, Great Lakes acquiredNorthern Star Airlines dbaMidway Connection on behalf ofMidway Airlines (1993-2003). Many routes from ChicagoMidway International Airport were obtained that Great Lakes switched to operate from ChicagoO'hare International Airport under theUnited Express banner. Northern Star/Midway Connection had previously obtained the assets of commuter airlineDirect Air in mid-1993.
In late 1995, Great Lakes acquired the assets of Arizona Airways obtaining routes from a hub atTucson International Airport to Phoenix and Page, Arizona, as well as to Albuquerque, NM, and to several points in northern Mexico. Service was also added from Phoenix to Show Low, Arizona. This operation ended on May 16, 1997.
Great Lakes' status asUnited Express was downgraded in early 2002 when it became an independent carrier but still maintained an indirect codeshare agreement with United Airlines as well as establishing a new code share withFrontier Airlines. Since then Great Lakes saw a steady decline in traffic and service to many cities was dropped including the entire hub operation at Chicago O'Hare. The Minneapolis hub was also closed however a small operation there was reinstated on March 17, 2012 whenEssential Air Service (EAS) routes formerly flown byNorthwest Airlink carriers were obtained. The Minneapolis hub closed again by 2016. The Denver hub then became the main focus for Great Lakes however routes from that hub were vanishing as well. Many cities the carrier once served as United Express no longer have any airline service.
New flights fromAlbuquerque toClovis andSilver City, NM were added on April 3, 2005 after obtaining the EAS contracts for these cities formerly held byMesa Airlines. These flights operated until November 30, 2012. EAS subsidized flights also operated from small hubs atPhoenix,Los Angeles,Milwaukee,Kansas City,St. Louis, andBillings during 2002 through 2018.
A hub operation atOntario International Airport was established on April 7, 2009, with routes toMerced andVisalia, California; and toKingman andPrescott, Arizona; both continuing ontoFarmington, New Mexico. The operation was switched from Ontario toLos Angeles, California on May 15, 2011. The airline added service to a new hub servingLas Vegas, Nevada, on April 7, 2010, with routes toEly, Nevada; Page, Arizona; Farmington, NM; and Merced and Visalia, California.[8] The Las Vegas hub was closed in April 2013. During the years of the hub operations at Phoenix, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Ontario, Great Lakes would operate flights by way of Farmington to connect these hubs with the main hub in Denver. A maintenance base was also established at Farmington.
In 2013, a new government ruling requiring first officers to have a minimum of 1500 flight hours and restrictions on crew rest and duty times created a severe hardship for Great Lakes as well as many other commuter airlines. The airline was then forced to pull ten seats out of most of its 19-seat Beech 1900D aircraft. Many flights had to be cancelled as well as all service to several cities includingMason City Municipal Airport.[9] On April 1, 2015, service toSheridan, Wyoming was dropped leaving the remote city with no air service. Sheridan had been served since the early days of aviation by many airlines, some with jets includingBoeing 737s byWestern Airlines. Most routes Great Lakes has served are subsidized through Essential Air Service. Through its history the airline is known to have served at least 162 cities and 164 airports (three at Chicago) but was down to only seven cities as of March 22, 2018.
Great Lakes had a rather unusual theme where many of their Beech 1900D aircraft had their tails painted advertising cities that they flew to as well as National Parks in their territory. Some of the tails advertised the cities ofLaramie, Wyoming;Alamosa andTelluride, Colorado;Scottsbluff, Nebraska;Ponca City, Oklahoma;Garden City, Kansas,Dodge City, Kansas andLiberal, Kansas;Sierra Vista, Arizona;Pierre, South Dakota;Miles City, Montana, as well as theWhite Mountains of Arizona, theTeton Range andDevils Tower in Wyoming.
On June 2, 2016, Great Lakes Airlines,Silver Airways andFrontier Airlines announced a partnership for recruiting pilots.[10]
On March 26, 2018, Great Lakes Airlines announced that operations would be suspended effective at midnight. Despite ceasing operations, the company didn't file for bankruptcy and certain segments of the company continued to operate. Flights toPierre, South Dakota andWatertown, South Dakota continued to operate throughGreat Lakes Jet Express.[11]
Great Lakes Airlines was the largestEssential Air Service provider in the United States for many years but served only two of its seven destinations through the Essential Air Service program prior to ceasing operations.[1]
In 2016, Great Lakes entered into acodeshare agreement namedGreat Lakes Jet Express where they would sell tickets: forElite Airways to and from Denver and Houston toBranson Airport; forAerodynamics Inc. on a route fromChicago O'Hare to Youngstown, and later an EAS route from Denver to Pierre with onward continuing service to Watertown, South Dakota. This controversial practice allows the codesharing carriers to take advantage of Great Lakes' existing distribution and interline agreements withglobal distribution systems and other airlines. The Chicago to Youngstown route was cancelled less than two months after it began becauseUnited Airlines refused to honor its interline agreement with Great Lakes in Chicago, stating that only connections in Denver were covered under the agreement.[12] The service on Elite Airways from Denver and Houston to Branson, Missouri was also cancelled shortly after it began.
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During the 1980s Great Lakes operatedBeechcraft C99 andBeechcraft 1900C commuter turboprop aircraft. The carrier operated two types of turboprop aircraft, being theBeechcraft 1900D and theEmbraer EMB 120 Brasilia. Great Lakes was at one time the world's largest operator of theBeechcraft 1900.
As of September 2017, the Great Lakes Airlines fleet included the following aircraft:[citation needed]
| Aircraft | Total | Passengers |
|---|---|---|
| Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia | 6 (as of August 2016)[13] | 30 |
| Beechcraft 1900D | 24 | 19 or 9 |
