The New England Patriots' plane is hauling 1.2 million medical-grade masks from China to Boston on Thursday after team owner Robert Kraft reportedly paid $2million to help replenish Massachusetts' dwindling supply during the coronavirus pandemic.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, Kraft covered half the cost of the sorely needed N95 masks, which are being flown from Shenzen, China to Logan International Airport, where they will be transported by the National Guard to a strategic stockpile about 30 miles west of Boston.

Kraft, a Columbia alum, has since agreed to donate 300,000 masks to neighboring New York state, where 1,941 people have now died amid 83,712 cases of COVID-19. As in Massachusetts, which has seen over 120 coronavirus deaths, New York's health care workers are facing a desperate shortage of masks amid the worsening crisis.

Baker and other governors, such as New York's Mario Cuomo, have complained that states are being forced to outbid each other for N95 masks, as well as other medical equipment, resulting in higher prices and shorter supplies.

The Patriots' plane is hauling 1.2 million medical-grade masks from China to Boston on Thursday after team owner Robert Kraft reportedly paid $2million to replenish Massachusetts' dwindling supply during the coronavirus pandemic. According to a Wall Street Journal report, Kraft covered half the costs of the sorely needed N95 masks, which are being flown from Shenzen, China (pictured) to Bosto's Logan Airport, where they will be transported by the National Guard to a strategic stockpile in Marlboro, Massachusetts

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker thanks 'front-line workers' and the Krafts for the masks

Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker have agreed to give 300,000 masks to neighboring New York state, where 1,941 people have now died amid 83,712 cases of COVID-19 as of Wednesday evening. And as in Massachusetts, which has seen over 120 coronavirus deaths, New York's health care workers are facing a shortage of N95 masks

Originally Kraft and his partners ordered 1.7 million masks, but only 1.2 million could fit on the plane, which was obviously built for passenger use and not shipping. The remaining masks will come in a second shipment, according to the Journal.

The plane specs were only part of the problem, Kraft explained.

'I've never seen so much red tape in so many ways and obstacles that we had to overcome,' Patriots owner Robert Kraft said, according to the Journal. 'In today's world, those of us who are fortunate to make a difference have a significant responsibility to do so with all the assets we have available to us.'

The Patriots' plane was reportedly limited to just three hours on the ground in Shenzen, and needed all but three minutes of that to load the masks for the return flight.

The plane is scheduled to land in Boston on Thursday.

As detailed in the Journal's piece, the effort began weeks earlier when Baker and his staff tracked down the necessary N95 manufacturers in China. The problem was shipping them out of Shenzen amid the global pandemic and the subsequent shipping regulations.

There was even a chance that any potential flight crew could get quarantined in China, where the COVID-19 outbreak began.

'I just have to get them here,' he reportedly told Kraft's son Jonathan, who serves as Patriots president and as chairman of the board at Massachusetts General Hospital.

The search for N95 masks began weeks earlier when Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker (pictured) and his staff tracked down the necessary manufacturers in China. The problem was shipping them out of Shenzen amid the global pandemic and the subsequent red tape

It was Jonathan Kraft who suggested using one of the team's two planes.

Robert Kraft, the US State Department and Baker all followed with letters to China's counsel general in New York to acquire the special permits, request waivers, and explain that every member of the crew would remain on board while the plane was loaded.

After an avionics upgrade in Wilmington, Ohio on Friday night, the crew quickly scrambled to get visas by taking ID photos at a local pharmacy and sending them back to the Chinese Consulate, which opened its New York office over the weekend to accommodate the request.

Robert Kraft's son Jonathan (left), the Patriots president and a board member at Massachusetts General Hospital, suggested using one of the team planes for the masks

Taking only mandatory rest and downtime, the crew landed in Alaska before heading to Shenzen, where one problem still remained: Who would load the masks onto the plane?

'What we needed,' said Kraft Sports and Entertainment COO JIM Nolan, 'were boots on the ground to gather the goods and get them to the right place.'

With help from intermediaries, the group was connected with executives at Tencent, a Chinese tech company, agreed to send over a dozen people to inspect and aggregate the masks. The group even stayed overnight guarding some of the shipment at the airport while manufacturers rushed to finish the rest.

When the order was complete, the Tencent team ushered the masks through customs and onto the waiting Patriots team plane. The remaining 500,000 or so masks are reportedly being guarded by Tencent until the second shipment can be made.

The plane has since taken off on its return voyage, stopping in Alaska along the way.

The Kraft family's entrepreneurial endeavor is similar to other recent efforts made by former NBA star Stephon Marbury and current Buffalo Sabres center Jack Eichel, both of whom have offered to broker deals to import much-needed medical supplies, like N95 masks, from overseas.