Guyanese co-pilots JetBlue flight from JFK to CJIA

Captain Haslyn Peters has made history as the first Guyanese to co-pilot a flight with non-stop service from New York’s JFK Airport to the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) at Timehri, EBD. That flight, by major carrier JetBlue airlines, landed at the CJIA on the evening of Thursday, February 23, 2023.
This was also Peters’s first flight home as part of the crew of a major carrier.
Captain Haslyn Peters, who grew up in Princes Street, Lodge, Georgetown, had had a childhood dream of becoming a pilot, and was given the nickname “Pilot”. He attended Dolphin Government School, and then The Bishops’ High School, after writing the Common Entrance Exams, which are now the National Grade Six Assessment exams.
Even though he was passionate about airplanes and flying, the opportunity to go on an aircraft for the first time came only in 1995, when his sister Allison Peters, who was a flight attendant with the now defunct national carrier Guyana Airways, asked one of the domestic pilots, Captain Astell Paul, to take him on a domestic flight.
Captain Paul took him on one of his trips to Kamarang, and gave him the following advice: “Make sure this is what you want to do, because it is not as glamorous as people say it is; it is hard work”.

In pursuit of his dream, Peters worked at the National Bank of Industry & Commerce, now Republic Bank Limited, to start saving for flight school. With his parents’ financial assistance, he went to Trinidad in 1996 and obtained his Private Pilot’s License from Briko Air Services Ltd. Upon his return to Guyana, he joined the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Standard Officer Cadet Course #30 in May 1997, and emerged as the Best Graduating Student in April 1998. As an officer with the GDF, Lieutenant Haslyn Peters was chosen to raise the Golden Arrowhead on Mount Ayanganna for three consecutive years, 1998–2000.
In 2001, Lieutenant Peters gained a Government of Guyana scholarship from the GDF to attend the Sunrise Aviation Flight School in Ormond Beach, Florida, and was promoted to the rank of Captain when he returned to Guyana. He then began flying as one of the GDF’s military pilots.
Captain Peters had the opportunity to be mentored by some of Guyana’s top aviators: such as Captain Lloyd Marshall, Captain Egbert Field, Captain Patrick Nichols, Captain Russell Edun and Captain Aziz Nizamuddin.
Captain Peters, continued as a pilot with the GDF until his migration to the USA in 2009, where he still resides with his wife Shelley Lewis-Peters and their two daughters, Judeyah and Jaliyah.
While living in the USA, Captain Haslyn Peters flew the EMB-145 and CRJ 700/900 for several regional US airlines on behalf of Delta Airlines, American Airlines, and United Airlines, and was the Captain on the CRJ-900 for an American regional airline prior to joining JetBlue.
In November 2022, he joined Jet Blue as First Officer on the Airbus 320/321. Haslyn continues to rely on the mentorship and career guidance being offered by Captain Lloyd Marshall, who still plays an integral role in his life. Even though he no longer has a national career in Guyana, Haslyn Peters is honoured to be able to follow in the footsteps of his mentors, by serving the people of Guyana in his current capacity with Jet Blue.
Captain Haslyn Peters and the rest of the JetBlue crew departed for New York on Friday, February 24, 2023.