Mesaba Aviation, Inc. Reports Capacity and Traffic for September

Business Wire, Oct 6, 2004

MINNEAPOLIS & ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Mesaba Aviation, Inc., a subsidiary company of MAIR Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq:MAIR), today reported capacity and traffic for September. Mesaba Aviation flew 258.8 million available seat miles (ASMs) in September, which was down 1.4% year over year. Mesaba Aviation carried 443,052 passengers in the month, which was down 3.7% year over year generating 159.1 million revenue passenger miles (RPMs). Passenger load factor, representing capacity filled, increased 0.1 points year over year to 61.5%.

Separately, Mesaba Aviation announced its operating performance for the month of September:

September
---------
                                        2004       2003       Change
                                      ---------- ---------- ----------
Completion Factor                       98.3%      99.1%    (0.8 pts.)
Arrivals within 14 minutes              85.6%      88.6%    (3.0 pts.)

Following are capacity and traffic results:

September
---------
                                        2004       2003       Change
                                      ---------- ---------- ----------
ASMs (000)                             258,791    262,571     (1.4%)
RPMs (000)                             159,139    161,349     (1.4%)
Load Factor                             61.5%      61.4%     0.1 pts.
Passengers                             443,052    460,018     (3.7%)

Fiscal Year to Date (6 Months)
------------------------------
                                       FY 2005    FY 2004     Change
                                      ---------- ---------- ----------
ASMs (000)                            1,514,218  1,490,913     1.6%
RPMs (000)                            1,016,959   933,267      9.0%
Load Factor                             67.2%      62.6%     4.6 pts.
Passengers                            2,877,255  2,988,302    (3.7%)

Calendar Year to Date (9 Months)
--------------------------------
                                       CY 2004    CY 2003     Change
                                      ---------- ---------- ----------
ASMs (000)                            2,167,024  2,178,701    (0.5%)
RPMs (000)                            1,392,079  1,307,790     6.4%
Load Factor                             64.2%      60.0%     4.2 pts.
Passengers                            4,016,070  4,227,784    (5.0%)

Mesaba Aviation, Inc., d/b/a Mesaba Airlines, operates as a Northwest Jet Airlink and Northwest Airlink partner under service agreements with Northwest Airlines. Currently, Mesaba Aviation serves 104 cities in 29 states and Canada from Northwest's and Mesaba Aviation's three major hubs: Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul, and Memphis. Mesaba Aviation operates an advanced fleet of 99 regional jet and jet-prop aircraft, consisting of the 69-passenger Avro RJ85 and the 30- 34-passenger Saab SF340.

MAIR Holdings, Inc. is traded under the symbol MAIR on the NASDAQ National Market.

More information about Mesaba Airlines is available on the Internet at: http://www.mesaba.com