As of November 2013, Great Lakes Airlines received $58,299,575 in annual federal subsidies for Essential Air Services that they provided to rural airports in the U.S.[3] Great Lakes Airlines was a large United Express feeder carrier from 1992 to 2002 operating to over 100 cities.

[5] The airline was established by Doug Voss and Ivan Simpson and started operations on April 5, 1977 as Spirit Lake Airways.

[6] It was reorganised and began scheduled services on October 12, 1981, as Great Lakes Airlines with flights between Spencer and Des Moines, Iowa.

Other United Express operations were also flown between Phoenix and Page, Arizona; Detroit to Alpena and Sault Ste.

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 when Essential Air Service (EAS) routes formerly flown by Northwest Airlink carriers were obtained.

EAS subsidized flights also operated from small hubs at Phoenix, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Kansas City, St. Louis, and Billings during 2002 through 2018.

A hub operation at Ontario International Airport was established on April 7, 2009, with routes to Merced and Visalia, California; and to Kingman and Prescott, Arizona; both continuing onto Farmington, New Mexico.

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.

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.

[1] In 2016, Great Lakes entered into a codeshare agreement named Great Lakes Jet Express where they would sell tickets: for Elite Airways to and from Denver and Houston to Branson Airport; for Aerodynamics Inc. on a route from Chicago O'Hare to Youngstown, and later an EAS route from Denver to Pierre with onward continuing service to Watertown, South Dakota.