When Captain Emma Nevena Hamilton landed a Boeing 787 Dreamliner at Faleolo International Airport on 31 May, it marked a personal and professional full-circle moment. 

The first Samoan woman to captain the aircraft, Hamilton said the flight home was a tribute to her family roots in Motootua and the legacy of her Samoan-German heritage.

“My aviation journey began at a young age in Sydney during the late 1970s, early 80s, when I would go out to Mascot airport with my parents, brother and sister, to pick up my grandparents when they came to visit us. I was fascinated,” she said. 

“I think it was then that I thought anything to do with airlines, airports and travelling to exotic destinations would be a wonderful thing to do. This is where the dream began.”

Her parents, Ingrid von Reichie and William Hamilton, have been married for nearly 60 years. 

“My parents have been incredibly supportive,” she said. Her grandparents, Kurt and Ainslie von Reichie, frequently travelled to visit the family in Sydney and inspired her early love for aviation.

Although she trained in Australia and flew scenic routes in Alaska early in her career, Hamilton's commercial aviation path began in Samoa in the early 1990s. Thanks to her Samoan heritage and passport, she qualified as a local hire at Polynesian Airlines.

“I started off answering phones in the office, then trained onto the de Havilland Canada (DHC-6) Twin Otter as a first officer, then the Britten-Norman Islander (BN-2) for single pilot ops, then my first command upgrade on the Twin Otter followed by a type rating on the Boeing 737-300 jet. We flew mainly out of Faleolo and Fagalii airports to Pago Pago. We also flew to Savaii. From 1993 until the end of 1999, I was the only female pilot for Polynesian Airlines.

“I loved my time in Samoa, moving out of my auntie Raema von Reichie's house (where I initially lived to find my feet) into my flat at Motootua, spending some incredible time with my grandparents while they were still alive, aunties and uncles, cousins, old family friends and making friends along the way and having my younger brother come out to live with me for a little while after he finished university. Samoa was a very special place in the 90s.

After returning to New Zealand, Hamilton worked for over two decades to rise through the ranks at Air New Zealand.

“The training process to become a captain at Air New Zealand is quite demanding. It requires a fair amount of self-discipline and dedication to the role you are about to undertake, including a lot of study and preparation... On average, it takes roughly 20 to 25 years to become a heavy jet long-haul captain with Air New Zealand, and I achieved this at the 22-year mark. I have just completed my training and achieved the rank of command on the Boeing 787-900 fleet.”

Her journey began in a time when female pilots were rare. “In the early years of learning to fly back in 1990/91... it was hard to get that first job... You learnt quickly that you had to have a bit of gumption and back yourself.”

She also credited her early flying experiences in Alaska. “It was only for roughly nine months, but it was the time of my life when I fell in love with majestic snow-capped mountains, pristine nature and wilderness.”

Her Samoan passport and connection to her family land in Solaua—once home to her grandfather’s copra plantation and racehorses—underscore her deep ties to Samoa. “Grandad started up many businesses and through his many dealings, engineered the beginnings of Polynesian Airlines...”

On returning to Samoa as a 787 captain, Hamilton said: “Then the answer is immensely proud and humbled... My last visit to Samoa was in 2023 for our von Reichie family reunion, and I'm hoping to come over again next year during Easter in 2026.

“I hope that there will be young Samoans out there who are dreaming about getting into this industry... It would be awesome to find a way of contacting them to see if we could give some advice to girls and to boys on how to get started.”

Her message to aspiring pilots: “It takes lots of grit, determination and believing in yourself to make it...”

She added: “If you like to read a lot and are good at problem solving... then this is the job for you.”

While acknowledging the ongoing gender gap in aviation siting around 6%  of most airlines for the female quota are in the jet categories, she said: “The barriers that used to be in aviation as a female are slowly whittling away...There are times when you will feel tired with jetlag but overall, it is a very rewarding career.”

She closed with a quote from a colleague and dear friend: 

"A wise captain once said, the best pilots don't just fly the plane, they lead the crew, inspire trust and adapt to every situation.  In the flight deck, it's not just about technical skills, it's about creating a team dynamic where everyone feels empowered to speak up and to do their best work.  True leadership in aviation starts with self awareness, emotional intelligence and the courage to keep learning every da."

Hamilton currently lives in Wanaka, New Zealand, with her two teenage sons, Euen and Taran.