Greenland is getting hot, and I’m not just talking about global warming!
In this post:
Scandinavian Airlines plans Copenhagen to Nuuk route
Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) has announced that it will launch a new route between Copenhagen, Denmark (CPH) and Nuuk, Greenland (GOH). The seasonal route will commence on June 27, 2025, with 3x weekly services.
The flight will operate with the following schedule on Mondays and Wednesdays:
SK1294 Copenhagen to Nuuk departing 9:00AM arriving 11:05AM
SK1293 Nuuk to Copenhagen departing 12:05PM arriving 7:45PM
Meanwhile it will operate with the following schedule on Fridays:
SK1294 Copenhagen to Nuuk departing 12:15PM arriving 2:20PM
SK1293 Nuuk to Copenhagen departing 3:20PM arriving 11:00PM
The 2,208-mile flight will be flown with an Airbus A320neo, and is blocked at just over five hours westbound and just under five hours eastbound. This will be the first time in over two decades that SAS offers scheduled service to Greenland.
Here’s how SAS CEO Anko van der Werff describes the new service:
“We’re thrilled to enhance connectivity between Greenland, Scandinavia and destinations worldwide through our SkyTeam alliance. This new route meets the rising demand for unique, adventurous travel experiences, while reinforcing Copenhagen’s position as a key hub for Scandinavian connections worldwide.”
Greenland is getting busy, for better or worse!
The timing of this service being added is no coincidence. Historically, Kangerlussuaq (SFJ) has been Greenland’s only airport capable of handling jets, as Greenland’s capital of Nuuk (GOH) only had a small airport. Fortunately in the coming months, Nuuk’s expanded airport will open, and this has exciting implications, since it means that jets will be able to fly directly to Nuuk.
Suffice it to say that Greenland is seeing a massive increase in service. Historically, the primary links to Greenland have been on Air Greenland, and the airline has an Airbus A330-800neo that it flies to Copenhagen (CPH). On top of that, Icelandair operates service to Reykjavik.
However, 2025 is turning out to be a busy year for summer service. Not only will SAS add flights to the airport, but United is also planning a route from Newark to Nuuk.
What of course makes this challenging is that Greenland has very limited lodging capacity, so it’s going to be interesting to see if Greenland can handle all these added visitors. Were there that many spare hotel rooms in Greenland in summer, before all of this service is being added?
Bottom line
Scandinavian Airlines is the latest airline to be adding service to Greenland, as the airline will be competing head-on with Air Greenland’s Airbus A330-800neo flight between Copenhagen and Nuuk. It’s cool to see Greenland become more accessible, though admittedly that’s a double edged sword.
What do you make of SAS adding Nuuk flights?
If SAS were still in Star Alliance, it might have been possible to book a EWR-Nuuk-CPH award. Oh well.
I'm curious if low-cost carriers will copy the Iceland playbook and launch 1-stop flights between North America and Europe via Nuuk, Greenland
I rather doubt that there is anything "low cost" about operating 1-stop via Nuuk. Plenty of aircraft can make it via traditional major cities as it is.
As for comments about hotel availability, I wouldn't worry about it. The hotels and tourism operators will be able to charge whatever they want, and therefore supply & demand will balance out. It will be an ultra-lux destination for wealthy folks (at least from the US), even if...
I rather doubt that there is anything "low cost" about operating 1-stop via Nuuk. Plenty of aircraft can make it via traditional major cities as it is.
As for comments about hotel availability, I wouldn't worry about it. The hotels and tourism operators will be able to charge whatever they want, and therefore supply & demand will balance out. It will be an ultra-lux destination for wealthy folks (at least from the US), even if the product itself isn't so much (that doesn't really matter to wealthy travelers looking for their next trophy experience; and I don't blame them; seriously, see Botswana's strategy as an example of a destination that basically only wants ultra-lux visitors (keep it quiet, but it can also be very affordable!)). Airlines will be in the same situation.
Wat will be tricky is how Greenland manages future infrastructure planning and investments, and what the commerce/economic development strategy will be alongside tourism, if there is such a thing.
They won't, not at any kind of scale. The weather in Nuuk is too unpredictable.
Air Greenland used to operate a scheduled 757 between Narsarsuaq in southern Greenland and Copenhagen. Another airport in addition to Kangerlussuaq that handled jets on the island.
Greenland is still part of the Kingdom of Denmark, so ties are still strong there. But sending a daily A330 (305 pax) and a thrice-weekly A320 (180 pax) seems madness.
Nevertheless, this move surprises me even more, as SAS still has interlining agreements with Air Greenland and, as mentioned, the demand for any route to Greenland is rather limited. It reminds me a bit of how they suddenly went full force against their then-interline/code...
Greenland is still part of the Kingdom of Denmark, so ties are still strong there. But sending a daily A330 (305 pax) and a thrice-weekly A320 (180 pax) seems madness.
Nevertheless, this move surprises me even more, as SAS still has interlining agreements with Air Greenland and, as mentioned, the demand for any route to Greenland is rather limited. It reminds me a bit of how they suddenly went full force against their then-interline/code share partner Atlantic Airways on routes to Torshavn, which ended with the two parting ways. It doesn't make sense at all, since both SAS, Atlantic and Air Greenland are (in part) owned by an instance of the Danish government, or local equivalents, so Denmark is competing against itself here, in a way. Usually, the Scandinavian way is to negotiate, finally agree and keep a friendly tone, while avoiding any potential confrontation, so this step looks kind of... weird. Un-Scandinavian.
As this is a seasonal summer route, I guess it's mostly aimed at tourism, though, not to strengthen the diplomatic and business ties. Usually, tourists visiting Greenland just use Kangerlussuaq (or now Nuuk) to stock up and get hiking into the wild. The villages there are not exactly suitable for a long weekend party break, nor for sightseeing or cultural trips. Sure, I get that some people will see it as a capital city and might think there may be diplomatic or business opportunities there, but Greater Nuuk doesn't even have 20.000 citizens and most of it can actually be seen on foot in less than a day. And in that respect, given that Nuuk isn't exactly a major airline hub, having a weekly seat capacity that equals nearly 20% of the population of the village seems a bit rough. I'm pretty sure that Nuuk isn't prepared for this and that there aren't enough ways to get people moving to other parts of the country. Heck, Nuuk isn't even properly prepared for being the main aviation hub in Greenland yet.
We'll see how long this one lasts...
ps. This hasn't been mentioned yet, but Danish charter airline Air Seven will also start a twice weekly seasonal route from Aalborg next year using 737s. So that' even more incoming traffic from mainland Denmark.
pps. The only exception here would be Uniteds new route, which I think is a stroke of genius, as it's the only North American route to Nuuk and carried out from a huge catchment area on a tiny turboprop. It might actually offer an opportunity for a welcome break from the tourist invasion for Greenlanders.
Spending almost 5 hours in SAS Go or even Plus is not something I’d ever want to do.
Is it really much different from spending 6 hours on A320/B737 flying across the US?
I’d say ”yes” since SK only has truly terrible slimline seats, no IFE, oftentimes no internet, and no frills at all. SK’s short-haul seats gets very uncomfortable after about an hour or so.
Greenland is also an autonomous territory of Denmark so it makes sense.
if SK sees potential heading to N. America, those 320NEOs could probably fill the bill just fine.
You know they already do right? For example OSL-EWR on the a321LR
from Nuuk
Oh I see
Though I doubt it’ll ever happen, it would’ve been cool