Peninsular Airways was founded in 1955 by 19 year old Orin Seybert with a single Taylorcraft to his name and the following year he tripled his capacity with the addition of a Piper Tri-Pacer.

In 1967 they became a full time subcontractor to famous and now defunct Reeve Aleutian Airways and were then based in King Salmon.

The Anchorage based was set-up in 1983 at first using Cessna 441 and a couple of years later with the Fairchild Metroliners.

The name was changed to the more catchy PenAir in 1991 and they are currently Alaska's largest commuter airline with a diverse fleet of Metroliner, Saab 340, Grumman Goose, Cessna Grand Caravan, PA31 and a couple of smaller airframes.

The Anchorage base just sees the larger Metroliner and SF340 aircraft, each painted with a different distinctive animal motif, with the rest of the fleet being dispersed around many smaller hubs and outlying villages around Alaska.

PenAir have recently built a new temperature controlled hangar in Anchorage, and at the end of each day you will see the aircraft being taxied on one engine from the main terminal ramp to the PenAir ramp on the north side to be overnighted in a less harsh environment. The new hanger can hold up to a mix of 11 large aircraft.

Sometime in the 2000's Orin Seybert's children managed to track down the very Talorcraft that started it all located Birchwood AK, and secretly got the aircraft restored back to flying condition and gave it to him as a present in 2005 on the 50th anniversary of the airline. She sits proudly inside the new hangar as a reminder of simpler times and history, and is flown by his children and grandchildren.