JetBlue said on Wednesday that it plans to give 100,000 free pairs of flights to healthcare workers under a new "JetBlue Healthcare Hero" program. 

The airline said it will issue two round trip flight certificates to 100,000 healthcare workers around the US, as frontline medical workers continue to be overwhelmed treating patients with COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus.

The first 10,000 recipients will be in New York, the airline said in a press release, where the outbreak has raged since mid-March. Providers at the Mount Sinai Health System and New York City's public hospital system, NYC Health + Hospitals, will be eligible for those 10,000 tickets, although providers at other health systems in the region are eligible for the remaining tickets.

Any healthcare worker is eligible, the airline said in the release, "from doctors and nurses, to pharmacists, therapists, social workers, public health administrators and more."

To apply, active healthcare workers, public health officials, or first responders must be nominated at jetblue.com/healthcarehero. Nominations are open through May 15. The certificates will be valid from July 1, 2020 through July 1, 2021.

The airline will give its 23,000 employees additional certificates "to gift to the healthcare heroes in their life." The airline said it would plan a low-altitude flight over New York on Thursday at 7 p.m. to honor healthcare workers. 

Airlines including JetBlue have seen customer traffic and revenue plummet throughout the coronavirus pandemic, as stay-at-home orders and social distancing guidelines make travel impractical or impossible. Airlines have been continuing to fly mostly empty planes in order to maintain supply chains and connectivity.  The planned flight path can be seen below.

According to Airlines for America, a trade and lobbying organization representing the major US airlines, domestic flights are carrying an average of 23 passengers each, down from 85-100 in the first two months of the year.