Solomon Airlines has promoted one of its female pilots to Captain the national carrier’s largest domestic aircraft – Dash 8.
Lyndah Tito Owen was Dash 8 First Officer before officially receiving her Captain’s epaulettes on Tuesday with a water cannon salute to mark the occasion.
A statement from Solomon Airlines said her first flight as a Dash 8 Captain in Command took place Tuesday January 03, on the Santa Cruz to Honiara route, operating with Captain Geoff Posala.
“We warmly congratulate Lyndah on her hard work and achievements in order to reach her command position as a senior captain with Solomon Airlines,” Solomon Airlines CEO Gus Kraus said.
“We are tremendously proud of her, for her record of flight performance and for the example she has set for other young women and men, who may aspire to a flying career.
“Her promotion with the ranks of Solomon Airlines is also pleasing as we have a commitment to developing our people and our workforce in a way that generates employment opportunities within the Solomon Islands,” he said.
Since achieving her air transport pilot licence (ATPL) and joining Solomon Airlines 13 years ago in 2009, Owen first flew as a full-time captain of the 19-seat De Havilland Twin Otter aircraft type.
In 2017, Owen as a Twin Otter Captain and then First Officer Patricia Avosa made Solomon Islands aviation history when they operated Solomon Airlines first flight under command of an all-female crew.
They flew a Twin Otter turbo-prop aircraft on some of the carrier’s busiest domestic services – the first time in the country’s aviation history.
In 2019, she qualified to become a First Officer on the 36-seat De Havilland Dash-8 aircraft, which today operates between Honiara and key destinations including Auki, Munda, Gizo, Santa Cruz and Kirakira.
