JetBlue has faced backlash after conducting a three-plane flyover of New York City to salute healthcare workers on the front lines of the ...
JetBlue has faced backlash after conducting a three-plane flyover of New York City to salute healthcare workers on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic.
Red, white and blue planes belonging to the airline flew low over The Big Apple on Thursday evening - a week after the Navy's Blue Angels and the Air Force's Thunderbirds performed a similar salute to essential workers.
The three jets took off from John F. Kennedy Airport in Queens, and spent the next 60 minutes flying at a low altitude of 2,000 feet across New York's five boroughs.
However, the flyover left many less-than-impressed - including New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,.
'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 wrote on Twitter.
Red, white and blue JetBlue planes flew low over The Big Apple on Thursday evening - a week after the Navy's Blue Angels and the Air Force's Thunderbirds performed a similar salute to essential workers.
JetBlue's red FDNY aircraft was one of the three planes that took to the skies for the 60 minute salute
JetBlue's blue NYPD plane is picture flying low near a building over New York City Thursday
The three jets took off from John F. Kennedy Airport in Queens, and spent the next 60 minutes flying at a low altitude of 2,000 feet across New York's five boroughs
'Other best ways to thank our healthcare and frontline workers is to support PPE production, fully funding our healthcare system, produce mass testing and contact tracing, and forgive student loan debt which is especially crushing in medical fields,' Ocasio-Cortez additionally posted.
Many others expressed similar sentiments on Twitter.
One wrote: 'A gesture that shows no significant effect whatsoever, other than wasting fuel and making people scared flying planes over low altitude'.
Another bluntly wrote: 'This is perhaps the dumbest thing that is taking place in New York during the COVID-19 pandemic'.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez led criticism of the flyover on Twitter Thursday night
Meanwhile, others claimed that low-flying planes over the skies of New York would trigger residents who remember the horrors of September 11, 2001.
'JetBlue marketing made a real bad call,' one claimed.
'1) No one likes the sound of planes. 2) The gesture has nothing to do with anything (how about showing up at hospitals with gift baskets or free flights for workers so they can vacay later?). 3) You're mimicking a horrific NY/US disaster'.
JetBlue's president and CEO, Joanna Geraghty, said the flyover was a part of the company's 'mission of inspiring humanity' which isnow 'stronger than ever'.
The airline has flown more than 1,400 medical professionals during the coronavirus pandemic, and has helped transport desperately needed supplies.
Others appeared delighted by JetBlue's tribute.
Some critics claimed low-flying planes would trigger bad memories of September 11, 2001
'Appreciate the effort to show support JetBlue. The haters, as usual, gonna hate,' one wrote.
The NYPD and the FDNY also tweeted out their thanks to JetBlue for the salute.
Several other citizens were seen stopping to look at the low-flying planes as they moved across the city which has been battered by the COVID-19 outbreak. The NYC Fire Wire - an organization which records the news and history of the FDNY - shared a shot that showed one firefighter watching the sunset salute from the top of his truck.
More than 178,000 NYC residents have tested positive to coronavirus, and upwards of 19,000 have died.
Some on social media expressed their support for the JetBlue flyover
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