Greenland is getting hot, and I’m not just talking about global warming!
Continue reading: SAS Adding Flights To Nuuk, Greenland, As Of June 2025
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
if SK sees potential heading to N. America, those 320NEOs could probably fill the bill just fine.
Spending almost 5 hours in SAS Go or even Plus is not something I’d ever want to do.
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.
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.
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
Is it really much different from spending 6 hours on A320/B737 flying across the US?
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.
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.
They won't, not at any kind of scale. The weather in Nuuk is too unpredictable.
If SAS were still in Star Alliance, it might have been possible to book a EWR-Nuuk-CPH award. Oh well.