Members of Britain’s armed forces stand by ambulances in a car park at the ExCeL London exhibition center in London on Sunday. The center has been transformed into a field hospital to be known as the NHS Nightingale Hospital. Photo: AFP

The National Health Service (NHS) has invited aircrews from two of Britain's biggest airlines to volunteer at a 4,000-bed field hospital nearing completion in London to handle coronavirus patients.

The appeal to aircrews -- many of them are trained in first aid and resuscitation -- from Virgin Atlantic and EasyJet came as the two airlines grounded most or even all their fleets because of the pandemic.

The first patients are expected to be admitted Wednesday at the Nightingale Hospital, created in just a matter of days at the ExCel center in London. The British capital has the highest number of deaths from the disease compared with other parts of the country.

The London Evening Standard quoted the NHS as saying that salaries of the cabin crew members who volunteer will continue to be paid by the airlines.

"Under these exceptionally challenging circumstances the NHS is taking extraordinary steps to fight coronavirus," said Simon Stevens, CEO of the National Health Service (NHS).