Air Rarotonga Eyes Cook Islands Pilot Isabel Drollet Macdonald
Isabel Drollet Macdonald has graduated from Massey University with a Bachelor of Aviation and is in talks with Air Rarotonga, putting the cook islands airline close to welcoming its first female pilot. Macdonald said, “I’m really happy because I am officially a pilot.”
Macdonald’s New Zealand training
Macdonald completed years of training in New Zealand before reaching the finish line. She said aviation has been her dream since she was young, adding, “I was always surrounded by the idea of travel” and “When you think about travel, I guess the highest you can go is being a pilot.”
Her path was not straightforward. Macdonald said, “I definitely second-guessed probably halfway through,” while balancing study and flight training. She added, “But my family is probably my number one supporter. I just did not want to let them down.”
Air Rarotonga and the pipeline
Air Rarotonga managing director Ewan Smith said the airline had been aware of Macdonald’s journey. He said, “It’s a great achievement for Isabel” and, “We have young Cook Islanders progressing through our ranks continuously, and we look forward to welcoming her to the company.”
Smith said Air Rarotonga sees Macdonald as part of a growing pipeline of young Cook Islands aviation talent, and said another young Cook Islands woman is currently training as a pilot in New Zealand. That adds a second route into the cockpit for a country where women make up only around six per cent of pilots worldwide, according to International Air Transport Association data.
Alecs and Bredina on the pathway
Macdonald’s father, Alec Macdonald, and mother, Bredina Drollett, said her achievement may inspire an aviation pathway for more Cook Islands girls. They said, “One might call it historic, but it’s also a sign that not many Cook Islands’ girls have chosen aviation as a career pathway or have not been able to find a pathway in the Cook Islands.”
Macdonald is of Samoan, Cook Islands, and Tongan heritage, and she said her long-term goal has always been to return home. For readers in the Cook Islands aviation sector, the immediate change is practical: Air Rarotonga now has a qualified pilot in the talent stream it has been following, and Macdonald is one step closer to joining the company she hopes to fly for.
