For more than three decades, the Singh family has shared a journey that has taken them from humble beginnings and personal sacrifice to the skies with Fiji’s national airline.
What began with two people finding their way into aviation has grown into a two-generation family story shaped by hard work, sacrifice, family support and a shared love for flying.
Together, Sharmila and Satpreet Singh and their two sons, Prashant and Satvikrant, have accumulated close to 90 years of aviation experience across Fiji Air, Air Pacific and Fiji Airways.
For Sharmila, the journey began when she was working at an accounting firm and noticed cabin crew members visiting the office.
She had hoped to become a teacher, but watching the crew come and go sparked her curiosity about aviation and eventually led her towards a career with the airline.
In February 1992, she put on the Air Pacific uniform for the first time as cabin crew and is now a Purser.
Sharmila says wearing the uniform for the first time made her feel proud, nervous, and excited.
As Sharmila and her husband built their careers, their growing family became accustomed to the rhythm of airline life, rosters, early starts, travel and periods of time apart.
For Sharmila, seeing her sons eventually step into the same industry became one of the most meaningful moments of her journey.
She says seeing her sons in uniform is one of the proudest moments of her life.
She says it is more than seeing them dressed as pilots, it is seeing their dreams, hard work, and dedication come to life.
Her husband, Satpreet, the fascination with aviation began when he was a boy growing up in Wailailai, Ba.
Satpreet shares that any time an aircraft was in the sky, he would automatically look up.
He says his parents were teachers at Khalsa College, where the family lived in the teachers’ quarters among the sugarcane fields.
His father and mother had migrated from Punjab, India, to Fiji in the late 1950s and went on to become an important part of the Khalsa College community.
That fascination with aircraft eventually became a dream of becoming a pilot.
His first flight came as a child on a holiday with his mother.
It would be years before he boarded an aircraft again, and when he did, it was as a student pilot.
When Satpreet told his family he wanted to fly, money was tight, but they found ways to support him.
His father gave whatever savings he could, while his mother surrendered her life insurance policy and took out a loan.
His sister also took out a loan to help fund his flying school, while his brother provided accommodation and logistical support in Kilbirnie, Wellington, New Zealand.
Satpreet also worked at the flying school, cleaning and refuelling aircraft, as well as cleaning offices and lavatories.
He also worked at a kitchen and bathroom showroom to help support himself.
For Satpreet, every job was another step towards his dream.
He joined Fiji Air in 1991, flying the DHC6 Twin Otter, BN2A Islander, Harbin Y-12 and Embraer EMB110 from Nausori before joining Air Pacific in 1999 as a Boeing 737 First Officer.
He became a Captain in 2007 and continued his flying career through the evolution of the airline and its fleet.
Thirty-five years into his commercial flying career, Satpreet has logged more than 23,000 flying hours, mostly in jets, and remains driven by the same passion.
Meanwhile, none of the Singh brothers was pressured to follow their parents into aviation.
For Prashant, aviation had simply been part of life for as long as he could remember.
Prashant says he grew up surrounded by aviation because of their parents and their colleagues, so there was always a curiosity and a natural pull towards it.
He says their mother encouraged them to choose their own paths.
After completing his flying studies, Prashant joined Fiji Airways in 2015 as a Second Officer at the age of 19 and is now a First Officer.
His brother, Satvikrant joined Fiji Airways in 2018 at the age of 20 and is now a First Officer.
For both brothers, stepping into the flight deck was also a chance to experience something they had watched their parents do throughout their childhood.
Prashant remembers visiting his father in the cockpit as a child and asking about the aircraft’s switches and instruments.
The brothers say it feels like a dream, only this time, the dream has become a reality.
There is still one milestone they hope to achieve.
The four have yet to be on the same aircraft together as operating crew, which would be a significant milestone for the family.
