Ponca City Development Authority 102 S. Fifth, Suite 3 Ponca City, OK 74601 580-765-7070

Great Lakes Airlines To Serve Ponca City      Great Lakes Airlines began service to Ponca City on March 13th, ushering in a new era of airline service to America's Family Business Heartland. The airline will offer "code-sharing" at its Denver hub with United and Frontier Airlines, allowing passengers to click, book, and fly on just one ticket to and from any market served from Denver by either airlines.      Great Lakes CEO Charles R. Howell IV was in Ponca City recently to meet with City officials. He said, "When we add Ponca City and Enid, we'll be up to 24 Essential Air Services out of all the cities we serve." The airline now serves 33 towns in the Midwest Corridor.      The airline has an extremely high reliability rating, according to Regional Sales Manager Monica Taylor. "In 2004, Great Lakes had a 99.2 percent reliability record in on-time performance. That is, less than one percent of the flights in the entire system were canceled in 2004. This is much higher than the industry average."      Customers can buy tickets here and go on elsewhere from Denver on Frontier or United. Tickets can be purchased by calling the airline's 800 number, going online to United, Frontier or Great Lakes Airline, or working through their local travel agents.      Howell said, "We have a very good flight schedule, especially for the business people. We'll have an airplane that overnights here in the community, so there will be pilots staying overnight in the local motels."      The originating flight leaves Ponca City at 6 a.m. and connects through Denver at 7:25 a.m. There is also a flight departing at 2:10 p.m. that arrives in Denver at 3:35 p.m. It is a good schedule for connecting flights.      At the present there are no flights planned to Dallas, however, Howell said, "At this point we are going to focus primarily on Denver. As we grow the market, Dallas would be something we would look at."      The 25-year-old publicly-traded company is headquartered in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Great Lakes has a fleet of 30 Beechcraft 1900, 19-seater planes. The planes are between 10 and 12 years old. When the company was formed it was located in Spirit Lake, Iowa, and served lake towns in the Iowa area. Over time the company was used predominantly to fly into the Chicago hub and was a 100 percent exclusive partner with United.      When United was downsizing, the Great Lakes type of operation was migrated to Denver, as United was trying to grow the Denver hub. Thus, Great Lakes is now headquartered in Cheyenne, Wyoming, which is one of the cities it serves to Denver. (Reprinted in part, with permission, from Louise Abercrombie of the Ponca City News) Posted on 3/28/2005. Chamber of Commerce | Relocating | Education © www.goponca.com - Ponca City Development Authority - Ponca City, Oklahoma