Robert Ceravolo
Robert Ceravolo’s path from the military to the boardroom started when he joined the US Navy in 2001. After becoming a pilot Ceravolo deployed twice and flying seven days a week or working 19 hour days was common.
He flew planes like the F-14 Tomcat (made famous by the movie Top Gun) and the Super Hornet. Two events inspired Ceravolo to start the private seaplane company, Tropic Ocean Airways: the death of his father and a Richard Branson biography.
Ceravolo’s father was a teenager in Italy during WWII and fell in love with the United States after witnessing the US Military liberate his hometown from the Nazis and Fascists. He became an American citizen and raised Ceravolo in a patriotic household, so it was inevitable that Ceravolo would serve his country. As a private pilot, his father’s passion for flying also drew Ceravolo to aviation at an early age.
“When my father passed away while I was in Navy flight school, it was a major hit for me. We were best buds, but I was able to compartmentalise and graduate number one in my class,” he says.
In 2009, Ceravolo rode a motorcycle through southern Italy to visit his dad’s hometown and during that trip, read Richard Branson’s book ‘Screw It Let’s Do It’ and decided to launch an airline.
Seeing an opportunity to create a professionally-operated seaplane company, Ceravolo sold his house, boat, motorcycle and a Porsche and took out a loan to set up what became Tropic Ocean Airways.
“I remember the first year we had in 2011. We had two employees. I was riding a bicycle to work because I couldn’t afford a car. I paid Christmas bonuses out of my personal checking account and maxed out credit cards,” he says. “So it was a challenging few years until we could really get our feet underneath us and start growing.”
Today, Tropic Ocean Airways has operations in Fort Lauderdale, Miami, New York, Bahamas, Puerto Rico, British Virgin Islands, and Antigua. The company caters to three types of clients: holiday-makers in the Caribbean, travellers and workers who want to avoid spending hours on a boat, and business people flying from New York to the Hamptons.
According to Ceravolo, the company flew over 45,000 passengers during 2019 and employs more than 100 people, 37 of whom are pilots. As its planes can land on the sea, commercial clients don’t need to build a runway.
“Anytime we look at a potential market for us, it’s an area that has a body of water near a major metropolitan area or a remote area that doesn’t really have a great way to get to it,” says Ceravolo, who is 44.
Standardised Operating Procedures
Ceravolo adapted navy training concepts to hire and develop the skill set of each pilot.
“The navy doesn’t hire people who know how to land on aircraft carriers. They find people with a good work ethic. They train and develop them. People who can’t take feedback are washed out of the program,” he says. The same is true in Ceravolo’s business.
Tropic Ocean Airways also relies on standardised operating flying procedures common to the navy and larger airlines, again an approach Ceravolo picked up as part of his military training.
“In the navy, we are NATO standardised. I could be flying on the wing of a French Mirage, and I know what that guy or girl is going to do because we have standardised operating procedures,” he says.
“Our pilots will rotate in different locations, and they’ll fly with pilots they’ve never flown with before,” he says. “That’s what American Airlines, Delta, that’s what all the major airlines do. It’s extremely unique to the smaller aircraft charter.”
Tropic Ocean Airways pilots who complete an in-house development program receive a conditional job offer with Endeavor Air, a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines.
Passion versus Stoicism
Ceravolo is of Italian descent and describes himself and his family as “emotional human beings.” However, he’s cautious about making emotional business decisions.
“To be a good entrepreneur, you can’t make emotional business decisions, which has bitten me multiple times,” he says.
Ceravolo attributes detaching emotionally from critical business decisions to military training. The navy teaches its pilots the concept of stress inoculation. They imagine worst-case scenarios and talk about possible solutions in advance.
“If I am the guy in the cockpit in a dog fight, I may not see it clearly, but when we take a step back and watch the debrief, it’s like, ‘Oh yeah, I didn't see that happening because I was in it,’” he says. “That emotional detachment really helps you make very good decisions and move forward.”
Ceravolo also manages the stress of running a business by working out and reading about stoicism, particularly Marcus Aurelius and Seneca.
“What makes something good or bad is your perception of whether or not it’s good or bad. When [the worst] happens, it’s not a massive shock.”
That said, Ceravolo still relies on his love of flying for getting out of bed every morning and building his business.
“There’s no way in hell I would be working as hard as I’m working and traveling constantly if I didn’t really feel passionate and excited about the growth of the business and what we could do for the industry.”
