Southwest Airlines celebrated their first-ever flight piloted by a mother/daughter duo with Captain Holly Pettit and her daughter First Officer Keely Pettit at the controls. The landmark flight took place on Saturday, July 23, 2022 with service from Denver to St. Louis.
On Sunday (July 30, 2022), Southwest Airlines announced the completion of the carrier’s first-ever flight piloted by a mother/daughter duo. The milestone flight, 3658, flew from Denver (DEN) to St. Louis (STL) on Saturday, July 23, 2022, with Captain Holly Pettit, and her daughter, First Officer Keely Pettit at the controls. Holly Pettit started her career straight out of college working as a Flight Attendant for another airline. After riding in the cockpit jump seat, she realized that she wanted to fly planes, and quickly got to work training and obtaining the necessary certifications. While welcoming three beautiful kids, she took flight lessons while supporting her family as a full-time mom.
At age 14, Keely Pettit and her siblings received the gift of a discovery flight, and she realized that she wanted to follow her mother’s footprints and become a pilot. She then earned her pilot’s license, later landing an internship at Southwest in 2017. Through the airline’s Campus Reach Internship Program, she learned more about a career in aviation, ultimately returning to Southwest as a Pilot.
Commenting on her career path to the airline, Southwest Airlines’ First Officer, Keely Pettit, said,
‘Southwest was always the end goal for me. There was really never any other option.”
Keely’s Mom, Southwest Airlines’ Captain Holly, Pettit, added,
“It's been a dream come true. First, I found this career and fell in love with it, and then that one of my kids fell into this and in love with this career too. It's surreal.”
Holly and Keely Petitt making Southwest history on Flight #3658 from Denver to St. Louis Photo Credit: Southwest Airlines Co. | Schelly Stone
Founded in 1971, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) has distinguished itself by offering exemplary customer service delivered by nearly 59,000 team members at 121 airports across 11 countries. Southwest offers a robust point-to-point network with a strong presence across leisure and business markets, and carrier 130 million passengers in 2019. During peak travel seasons, the airline operates more than 4,000 daily departures to over 100 destinations across the U.S. and 10 additional countries. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, based on the number of originating passengers boarded, Southwest has been the largest U.S. domestic carrier since 2003.
Source: Southwest Airlines
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