All Things Travel: Cape Air Celebrates 25 Years

BOSTON (CBS) - Cape Air has spread its wings in the last 25 years.

It has also earned its wings with flights in New England, New York state and the mid-west and a strong presence in the Caribbean. Flights stretch to the Pacific Islands.

Cape Air started flying its first route from Provincetown to Logan Airport using small propeller aircraft and eight employees. It has never changed course. If it can find a small niche market and make money, it will consider flying the route.

Headquartered in Hyannis, the airline now employs over 1,000 men and women.

The man behind this growth is CEO Dan Wolf who started out flying for Cape Air and still does that job in his spare time.

Wolf was re-elected State Senator in the Massachusetts Legislature last month representing the Cape and Islands. Wolf has also been very active in the regional airline association.

Cape Air is the regional partner of JetBlue at Logan Airport. With United moving from Terminal C to a new location in Terminal B, its departure gates remain in C. You can look out the windows of the terminal and see perhaps six or eight small aircraft coming and going.

Christmas will be a busy time for the airline shuttling passengers back and forth throughout New England for the holidays.

On a busy summer Friday at Logan in the summer, there might be as many as 200 flights scheduled to depart. It is a virtual shuttle to the Cape and Islands.

"2014 will be a record year for the airline," said Dan Wolf in a recent interview. "We have a strong balance sheet and are ready to add new routes."

The next expansion could be to return to some smaller airports in Florida.

The airline is now saving more than a dollar a gallon for fuel costs from over a year ago. All of the carriers are now sharing in this saving, as fuel is their major expense.

For Cape Air, its future growth depends on finding and acquiring new, slightly larger planes and the pilots to fly them.

Manufacturers in the U.S. don't build planes that Cape Air needs, so it is looking to China or Italy to place a large order.

Last September Cape Air gathered several hundred employees on a beach to celebrate its anniversary as the sun set. It has come a long way and is truly Massachusetts' own airline.

All Things Travel With Bob Weiss Can be Heard on WBZ News Radio.

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