2026年5月、クック諸島出身の副操縦士が、ジェットスターのブリスベン〜ラロトンガ初便の操縦桿を握った。May 2026 — A first officer from the Cook Islands flew Jetstar's inaugural direct service from Brisbane to Rarotonga.

Jetstar launched a new direct service between Brisbane, Australia, and Rarotonga, Cook Islands, on 18 May 2026. The inaugural flight's first officer was Robert Woonton, a Cook Islander and the son of former Cook Islands Prime Minister Dr Robert Woonton, who held office from 2002 to 2004.

Rarotonga is the main island of the Cook Islands, in the South Pacific. Woonton grew up near Rarotonga's airport and recalls watching aircraft fly low overhead as a child. He began aviation training in 2009 and earned his commercial pilot licence in 2012, later working as a flight instructor and at Air Rarotonga before moving to Australia after the COVID-19 pandemic and joining Jetstar.

Woonton said inaugural flights are always memorable because one becomes part of a new connection between people and places, and that helping open a route between Brisbane and Rarotonga was a privilege. He also credited Cook Islands aviation pioneers such as Sir Ewan Smith and Eddie Puna with showing that the path was possible.