For the first two years of its existence, Landair resembled nothing like the strong company it is today. In fact, the company started out on the table in Scott Niswonger’s kitchen—with an initial $2,000 investment.

Initially, Niswonger partnered with Ed Sayler in 1981 to form a small, agile trucking company—focusing on dedicated operations for the airline industry and even working in conjunction with the Flying Tigers. The trucking business had just been deregulated, and the two men saw an opportunity to fill a void within the marketplace. They determined that freight could be moved (via truck) between airports overnight at a fraction of the cost of moving it by freighter. And so, Landair was born.

With hard work, a handful of resources, and a clear vision of their future, the men created their very own niche business. Niswonger handled sales and marketing while Sayler focused on equipment, purchasing, and operations. It was in those early days that Niswonger and Sayler discovered that the best approach to business was to sit down with customers, listen to their needs, and customize solutions for complicated logistics problems. That method of problem-solving—along with a yearly trend of steady growth—continued for the next nine years.

By 1990, the company had grown to the point that local banks couldn’t keep up. So the decision was made to take the company public. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much interest in the market for a $135 million asset-intensive company, so in March of 2003, the decision was made to take the company back to the private sector.

Today, the company is responsible for creating jobs for 1,300 people in East Tennessee. Wise business decisions have put the company in a position where it has very little debt. And it plays a major role in the local community by investing in future generations—especially in education and the arts. The newest example of this is the Niswonger Performing Arts Center in Greeneville.

According to Niswonger, “We’re focused on developing the region economically, making it a better place to live and enhancing the quality of life in the area. Our hope is that future generations will get a good education, use that education to get a great job, and get to a point where they can give back to other future generations. Learn, earn, and return.”