Sonya Bissett and Lara Danaher made Aer Lingus history this week by being its first mother-daughter duo to fly one of its airplanes
11:43, 25 Jul 2026Updated 13:31, 25 Jul 2026
Proud mum Sonya Bissett and daughter Lara Danaher made history this week when they flew an Aer Lingus plane together
Aer Lingus history was made this week as mother-daughter duo Sonya Bissett and Lara Danaher flew one of the Irish airline’s planes together.
It marked the first time in the airline’s history that an Aer Lingus aircraft was flown by a mother-and-daughter team, with Captain Sonya and her daughter, Co-Pilot Lara, sharing the flight deck.
Praising the duo for the historic achievement, Aer Lingus said in a post shared on social media: “A rare and special occurrence this week.
“Captain and Co-Pilot were Mother and Daughter. The first time in Aer Lingus history.
“Huge congratulations to Sonya and Lara on a truly remarkable achievement.”
Sonya, who has been working for Aer Lingus since 1999, called it an “absolute honour” to have Lara as her First Officer on the EI650/651 flight and thanked “crew who made it so special for us.”
Sonya said it was “an absolute honour” to have her daughter Lara serve as her First Officer on the histroic flight
Sharing a sweet post on her LinkedIn page, Lara, who has been a Cadet Pilot with Aer Lingus since October 2024, also expressed her gratitude to her mother “for the most special day, I’ll cherish it forever.”
The flight comes a little over a year after Sonya, who hails from Malahide, congratulated her daughter on her first solo flight last May. “Can’t wait to fly with you,” the proud mother commented on Facebook alongside a stream of well-wishes.
Reactions to their recent flight together under Bissett’s more recent FB and LinkedIn post echo those warm comments.
One FB user said, “Congrats to Lara. What a wonderful proud Mammy moment.”
Another cited, “What a dream to come true.”
Many pointed out what a trailblazing moment of pride it must have been.
Official Aer Lingus social media sites also congratulated the duo for their flight together, with a stream of comments praising the history made.
“A great story of female power,” one person said, while another dubbed the duo “History makers!” and a third person said: “Congratulations Sonya and Lara, wishing you both many more amazing flights together.”
The growing gender diversity of aviation was one thing noted in these comments.
Ireland boasts being one of the top five countries with the most female pilots, with a 2021 study showing that 9.9% of Irish pilots are female.
As this number hopefully continues to grow, we may yet be seeing more heartwarming moments such as these.
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