Great Lakes Airlines (OTCBB: GLUX), is an American regional airline operating domestic scheduled and charter services. Corporate headquarters are located in Cheyenne, Wyoming, with hubs at Denver International Airport, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport, McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, and Albuquerque International Sunport.

The airline was established by Doug Voss and Ivan Simpson and started operations on April 5, 1977. It began scheduled services on October 12, 1981, with flights between Spencer, Iowa, and Des Moines, Iowa. In February 1988, Great Lakes acquired Alliance Airlines, adding six cities around Lake Michigan to the route network. In the following years it continued to expand and in February 1992 signed a codesharing agreement with United Airlines. On January 19, 1994, the airline went public trading on the NASDAQ stock exchange. In October 1995, Great Lakes began operating under the Midway Connection banner at Raleigh/Durham through a marketing agreement with Midway Airlines, but this ceased in 1997.^{[citation needed]} Prior to the relocation of the headquarters to Cheyenne, Great Lakes was headquartered in Summit Township, Clay County, Iowa, by Spencer Municipal Airport and near the city of Spencer.

The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada–United States border which connect to the Atlantic Ocean through the Saint Lawrence Seaway and the Great Lakes Waterway. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth comprising 21% of the world's surface fresh water. The total surface is 94,250 square miles (244,106 km²), and the total volume (measured at the low water datum) is 5,439 cubic miles (22,671 km³). The lakes are sometimes referred to as the North Coast or "Third Coast" by some citizens of the United States.

The lakes have been a major source of trade through this area, and they are home to a large number of aquatic species. Many invasive species have been introduced due to trade in the area, and some threaten the biodiversity of the area.

Though the five lakes reside in separate basins, they form a single, naturally interconnected body of fresh water. The lakes form a chain connecting the east-central interior of North America to the Atlantic Ocean. From the interior to the outlet at the St. Lawrence River, water flows from Superior to Michigan-Huron (in the hydrological sense, a single body of water), southward to Erie, and finally northward to Lake Ontario. The lakes drain a large watershed via many rivers, and are studded with approximately 35,000 islands. The Great Lakes region contains not only the five themselves but also many thousands of smaller lakes, often called inland lakes. Of the five lakes, Lake Michigan is the only one that is located entirely within the United States; the others form a water border between the United States and Canada.