Pinnacle Airlines, Inc. Releases August Performance Data

Pinnacle Airlines Corp. (NASDAQ: PNCL) today released capacity and operational results for its Pinnacle Airlines, Inc. subsidiary for August 2008.

                    August Performance
            ---------------------------------
               2008        2007       Change
            ----------  ----------  ---------
Passengers     885,619     904,145       (2.0)%
Load Factor       78.0%       79.5%      (1.5) pts
ASMs (000)     543,147     530,979        2.3 %
RPMs (000)     423,669     422,437        0.3 %
Departures      22,470      23,286       (3.5)%
Block Hours     36,207      38,721       (6.5)%
Fleet
  CRJ-200          124         139      (10.8)%
  CRJ-900           11           -      100.0 %


                  Year-To-Date Performance
            ----------------------------------
               2008        2007       Change
            ----------  ----------  ----------
Passengers   6,961,632   6,659,664        4.5 %
Load Factor       77.2%       76.8%       0.4 pts
ASMs (000)   4,208,604   4,026,055        4.5 %
RPMs (000)   3,249,567   3,090,272        5.2 %
Departures     179,012     177,407        0.9 %
Block Hours    297,507     293,106        1.5 %

The average length of a Pinnacle flight was 470 statute miles compared to 461 statute miles in August 2007.

The term "block hours" refers to the elapsed time between an aircraft leaving a gate and arriving at a gate.

About Pinnacle Airlines Corp.

Pinnacle Airlines Corp. (NASDAQ: PNCL), an airline holding company, is the parent company of Pinnacle Airlines, Inc. and Colgan Air, Inc. Pinnacle Airlines, Inc. operates a fleet of 135 regional jets in the United States and Canada as Northwest Airlink and Delta Connection. Colgan Air, Inc. operates a fleet of 60 regional turboprops as Continental Connection, United Express and US Airways Express. Pinnacle Airlines Corp. operating units fly over 1,000 daily flights and transport more than 10 million passengers a year to 140 cities and towns in North America. Visit www.pncl.com for more information.

This press release contains various forward-looking statements based on management's beliefs, as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to management. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable; it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct. Such statements are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including those set forth in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available to investors at our web site or online from the Commission. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove erroneous, actual results may vary materially from results that were anticipated or projected. The Company does not intend to update these forward-looking statements before its next required filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.