NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – JetBlue will salute frontline health care workers Thursday night with a "FlyOver Salute" over New York City by three of it's New York-themed jets.
The jets will either fly over, or be visible, from all five boroughs, as well as New Jersey. The NYPD said the three A320 aircrafts will fly at 2,000 feet.
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The Long Island City–based airline said the flyover will "bring the #ClapBecauseWeCare movement to the skies" with the three jets flying low over the city from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Each one of the jets honors New York City in some way: the “I Heart Blue York” jet features an “I LOVE NY” logo, while the “Blue Finest” pays tribute to the NYPD and the “Blue Bravest” jet pays tribute to the FDNY.
But Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who represents parts of Queens and the Bronx, though, slammed the flyover.
"Nothing like a corporate PR campaign that burns jet fuel at low altitudes over vulnerable communities dying from a respiratory virus that compounds on our preexisting and disproportionate exposure to air pollution to show healthcare workers we care," she tweeted about an hour before it was slated to kick off.
New Yorkers have been clapping every night at 7 p.m. to salute frontline workers in the city. JetBlue’s flyover comes about a week after Blue Angels and Thunderbirds took to the skies over New York City to pay tribute to the workers.
The jets start their journey at JFK Airport at 7 p.m. They’ll fly by Brooklyn before heading over Queens and the Bronx. They’ll then fly over the Hudson River by Manhattan before heading down to Staten Island and past the Rockaways to JFK.
“We applaud the healthcare workers who are helping us get through this challenging time and inspiring humanity along the way,” JetBlue President/COO Joanna Geraghty said in a statement. “This is an opportunity for us to fly it forward and show our appreciation for the heroic efforts of medical professionals, first responders and public servants—not just here in our home of New York but around the country as well.”
This week JetBlue launched JetBlue Healthcare Hero, which is honoring 100,000 health care workers with roundtrip flight certificates for two anywhere JetBlue flies.
JetBlue said it’s donating pairs of roundtrip flight certificates for 10,000 healthcare workers at the Mount Sinai Health System, including their Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island campuses, as well as at NYC Health + Hospitals.
The airline is calling on customers to thank the health care heroes in their life by nominating them for a chance to receive one of the other 90,000 pairs of roundtrip flight certificates for two. Through May 15, people can submit a brief description of why they are nominating their health care hero at jetblue.com/healthcarehero.