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Monday, March 20, 2006

Box Scores: February Traffic

Great Lakes Aviation [GLUX] ) {Frontier Airlines, United Airlines}
February Trend | Year-To-Date Trend February 2006 February 2005 Percent Change Year-To-Date 2006 Year-To-Date 2005 Percent Change
UP | UP RPM (miles)
9.6M
8.7M
10.5%
19.2M
17.8M
7.9%
UP | UP ASM (miles)
21.8M
20.6M
6.0%
46.4M
42.1
10.3%
UP | DN Load Factor
43.9%
42.1%
1.8 points
41.2%
42.3%
(0.9 points)
UP | UP Passengers Enplaned
36,290
32,175
12.8%
72,996
66,233
10.2%

Analysis: February marked another month of growth for Great Lakes, which is benefitting from a larger route structure, the bulk of which are subsidized by essential air service programs. Great Lakes added its 40th destination, Pueblo, Colo., in December.

Mesaba Aviation (Unit of MAIR Holdings [MAIR]) {Northwest Airlines}
February Trend | Year-To-Date Trend February 2006 February 2005 Percent Change Year-To-Date 2006 Year-To-Date 2005 Percent Change
DN | DN RPM (miles)
113.1M
146.1M
(22.7%)
233.2M
293.8M
(20.6%)
DN | DN ASM (miles)
171.4M
238.1M
(28.0%)
362.6M
491.5M
(26.2%)
UP | UP Load Factor
66.0%
61.4%
4.6 points
64.3%
59.8%
4.5 points
DN | DN Passengers Enplaned
331,625
410,417
(19.2%)
694,071
823,202
(15.7%)

Analysis: Mesaba has been reducing its fleet of Avros and Saab 340s at the request of Northwest, and the losses show. The carrier has been operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy since October. MAIR Holdings shares dropped 12 cents, or 2.5 percent, to $4.73 on the Nasdaq following the release of the traffic numbers.

Midwest Connect (Unit of Midwest Air Group [MEH]) {Midwest Airlines}
February Trend | Year-To-Date Trend February 2006 February 2005 Percent Change Year-To-Date 2006 Year-To-Date 2005 Percent Change
UP | UP RPM (miles)
18.1M
17.4M
4.2%
36.5M
34.1M
6.9%
DN | UP ASM (miles)
29.3M
29.6M
(1.3%)
61.8M
60.7M
1.8%
UP | UP Load Factor
61.9%
58.7%
3.2 points
59.0%
56.2%
2.8 points
UP | UP O&D Passengers
59,849
59,624
0.4%
120,269
116,266
3.4%

Analysis: Midwest Connect reported more gains in February passenger traffic in the face of higher fuel costs. Its competitors, primarily Northwest, have pulled capacity out of both Milwaukee and Kansas City, improving Midwest Air Group's overall financial performance so far in 2006.

SkyWest [SKYW] (SkyWest Airlines, Atlantic Southeast Airlines) {Delta Air Lines, United Airlines}
February Trend | Year-To-Date Trend February 2006 February 2005 Percent Change Year-To-Date 2006 Year-To-Date 2005 Percent Change
UP | UP RPM (miles)
1.13B
502.1M
125%
2.27B
1.00B
125.8%
UP | UP ASM (miles)
1.46B
694M
111.2%
3.01B
1.41B
114.1%
UP | UP Load Factor
77.1%
72.4%
4.7 points
75.4%
71.5%
3.9 points
UP | UP Block Hours
95,258
51,389
85.4%
196,232
105,235
86.5%
UP | UP Passengers Enplaned
2.3M
1.15M
99.6%
4.63M
2.31M
100.3%

Analysis: SkyWest more than doubled its February traffic as it recorded the effects of its September acquisition of ASA. SkyWest shares closed 5 cents higher on the Nasdaq at $27.67 before sinking 8 cents in after-hours electronic trading. The ASA acquisition has nearly doubled the size of SkyWest, making it one of the largest and among the most profitable independent regional carriers in the United States. SkyWest recently submitted bids for two more carrier contracts. The carrier said these would be among the top five or six major airlines, but not with existing partners Delta or United.

( ) Indicates corporate affiliation and operating units. { } indicates code-share partnerships.

Sources: Company reports

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