Peninsula Airways Inc.: 1988 revenue: $14.1 million; employees: 135; rank: 47.

• Author: Evangelista, Catherine
• Position: The New Forty-Niners - Company profile

AN ALASKAN WITH MORE THAN 30 years experience and 30,000 flying hours under his safety belt, Orin Seybert has built Penninsula Airways Inc. with care and devotion. Cautiously steering his passenger airline through turbulent growth cycles, Seybert has nurtured his company from a single-plane Bush taxi service to a major Alaskan commuter service with a fleet of 34 airplanes.

Using $650 earned from commercial fishing, 16-year-old Seybert bought his first private plane to "gadabout" the wilderness. But due to the remoteness of his village, Pilot Point, he soon was flying medical emergency patients to Dillingham. An area doctor encouraged the teenager to get his commercial license so he could contract with hospitals to fly in emergency medivac cases.

By age 18, Seybert had obtained his commercial license. Within a year, he purchased a Piper Tri-Pacer 4-seater, launching one of Alaska's most successful airlines.

"I guess I'm just a kid that started flying for fun and has been having fun flying ever since," says 53-year-old Seybert. "I've been doing the same thing all my life. It's all I know. I've always been my own boss - never had to work a job my whole life."

Now celebrating his 40th year in Alaska, Seybert says Alaska has been good to him and to his business. He credits his success to a reputation for safety. "One reason we're successful and people will inconvenience themselves to take our flights is that we give them secure service," he says. According to Seybert, he has at times charged between 20 and 30 percent more fare than his competitors.

Seybert's reputation for safety has brought him full circle to the birth of his company. Earlier this year, Peninsula was awarded a three-year contract as the medivac carrier for Humana Hospital-Alaska. "We've been very busy on that alone this year," says Seybert. "I've got this long history of working for fish companies in the capacity of medivacing their workers and just plain supporting them in general."

The pilot and businessman recognized that Bush industries, particularly fishing, had a need for secure, reliable transportation. With that in mind, he developed a work-ethic philosophy that has allowed success to unfold beneath his wings. Seybert's philosophy: Put out emphasis. Service is becoming more important, particularly in terms of product selection and free delivery."

Another shift in the industry, Ballow says, is more sophisticated tools demanded by business. Among the new technologies...