The golden years: companies in Alaska thrive beyond the age of 50.

• Author: Bohi, Heidi
• Position: Usibelli Coal Mine Inc. - Company overview

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

All across Alaska there are hundreds of businesses that have helped shape Alaskans' lives for generations, some celebrating more than 100 years of prosperity and existence. From banks and builders, to fuel and power companies, mariners, machinists, and attorneys and engineers, they have weathered economic ups and downs, political change and uncertainty, natural disasters and even personal crisis, all with fierce determination and an unwavering commitment to succeed even when faced with overwhelming adversities.

How do they do it? For every Alaska business that celebrates one anniversary after the other, there are countless others that have failed within a matter of only a few years--or months. But for those who survive 50, 60, 70 or even 100 years, theirs is a story of recognizing opportunity in the midst of misfortune, adapting for survival in a competitive marketplace, knowing how to work timing, and luck into the plan, and having the sheer tenacity it takes to succeed in one of the most unpredictable places on earth.

PENINSULA AIRWAYS

When Peninsula Airways founder Orin Seybert came to Pilot Point as a 12-year-old boy, his task at hand was clear: he needed to buy an airplane so he could explore the northern coast of the Alaska Peninsula, located on a high ridge that is punctuated by lakes, rolling hills and glacial moraines. Although it may have seemed like a far-fetched dream for a kid, just seven years later in 1955, the 19-year-old Seybert, in fact, used his dream-come-true, two-seater Taylorcraft plane to buzz around the Southwest region and to taxi sick or hurt residents from the surrounding communities, accessible only by water and air, to the nearest hospital in Dillingham just 200 miles away. After about the third trip, the doctor there asked Seybert who was paying him for his fuel and time. No one was, he replied, "But I'm the only guy who has an airplane and I want to help them." The doctor told him he had some money in his budget and if Seybert got a license and started a business, he would pay him for his much-needed services.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The following year Seybert officially started Peninsula Airways--commonly known as Pen Air--with just him and the one plane. Then, in 1956, he a hired another local boy, Ace Gretchen, who would end up being a lifelong friend and flying for him for 30 years. Seybert's first business philosophy was simple: fly anywhere, anytime, in any kind of weather. In other words, his son Danny Seybert explains, "they did anything they could to make a buck."

When the Airline Deregulation Act was signed into law in 1978, removing government control from commercial aviation, Pen Air had its first windfall and transitioned to a scheduled airline with published fares, also making its services available to hunters and fishermen. Known as a frugal but fair businessman who was not afraid of hard work, Seybert wanted to be able to get the business flying cannery workers in from San Francisco, but at the time he couldn't afford floats for his planes. Known for his can-do spirit, he made the processors an offer: lend me your bulldozer so I can build runways in Ugashik, Pilot Point and Chignik Lagoon and you will be able to rely on me to fly your workers in during the peak season. To this day, Danny says, these cannery contracts and the seafood industry in Bristol Bay during summer months and the Bering Sea during the winter continue to be the backbone of Pen Air--and they are still using the original runway in Chignik Lagoon.

Today, Pen Air is Alaska's largest commuter airline, operating a fleet of 40 aircraft out of Anchorage, Dillingham, Dutch Harbor, King Salmon and Cold Bay, and providing scheduled...