The airport in Greenland’s capital city has been dealing with some mysterious issues in recent weeks, as it’s no longer able to accommodate departing international flights. This is very odd…
In this post:
International flights paused at Nuuk Airport
The Danish Civil Aviation and Railway Authority has decided that Nuuk Airport can no longer accommodate international departures, until further notice. As a result, it’s currently only possible to fly from this airport to other destinations in Greenland.
Details are limited regarding why the international flight authorization was yanked for this airport. According to authorities, the airport doesn’t meet “the necessary high level of security in the security area,” and “as airport security involves a high level of confidentiality, we cannot go into detail about which security measures are currently lacking.”
I have to imagine that this comes down to some sort of technicality, whether it’s the security screening equipment being used not being up to international standards, or perhaps there’s an issue with the way passengers are funneled into and out of the terminal. A traveler who recently arrived on an international charter flight at the airport states the following about the arrival experience:
“I didn’t show my passport to anyone. We went from the plane to the taxi. No one pointed us where to go and the hallway and doors seemed open. Maybe they forgot to direct us. I will happily get my passport stamped!”
For some context, it’s supposed to be an exciting time for aviation in Greenland, as Nuuk Airport (GOH) is this year getting a new terminal and an extended runway, which will allow the airport to become the country’s primary aviation hub. Currently most international flights to the country are to Kangerlussuaq Airport (SFJ), which isn’t actually convenient for most travelers.
How Nuuk Airport is rerouting its Canada flight
Even ahead of the full airport transition this fall, Air Greenland is currently operating a weekly flight from Nuuk to Iqaluit, Canada (YFB). This is such a cool route, as it covers a distance of just 513 miles, and is supposed to take around two hours, using one of Air Greenland’s turboprops.
So, what has happened to this route, in light of the new airport restrictions? Well, the flight from Iqaluit to Nuuk is continuing to operate nonstop, with a flight time of just under two hours.
However, the flight from Nuuk to Iqaluit is now flying via Kangerlussuaq. So the aircraft first flies for around an hour to Kangerlussuaq, where passengers have to be deplaned, go through a security screening.
Then from there, it’s a bit over a two hour flight to Iqaluit. This increases the travel time for the journey by roughly two hours.
It remains to be seen how much longer these restrictions last. I suspect it’ll be worked out in the coming weeks, but it’s still interesting to see in the meantime…
Bottom line
Nuuk Airport has temporarily had its international flight authorization revoked, due to some sort of a security concern. This airport is supposed to become much bigger in the coming months, but as of now this is impacting the carrier’s once weekly flight to Canada, which is having to reroute through Kangerlussuaq.
It’s not often you see something like this happen, so I’m curious for how long this persists…
What do you make of this situation at Nuuk Airport?
Come to think of it..the comments on not checking passports is not only at airports but also on cruise ships.Was on a cruise from Iceland to Greenland on Hurtigruten in July and i never took out my Singaporean passport from my safe deposit box.Just walked off the ship and walked out past the gate.There wasnt even any customs check.
Sounds like Iqaluit ...
Iqaluit has a handful of gates. For those flying within Nunavut and other northern provinces, there is no security. You can walk in the front door and onto your plane. There is a lounge for the indigenous elders, which I thought was very cool!
They do have 2 gates that are sectioned off with security screening for flights going to other parts of Canada. I presume that Nuuk had a similar model and will now need a sectioned off part.
It have been in the Danish news as well, this is not a technicality. The inspection by the authority in the airport revealed severed security issues, not locked doors in the airport contaminating the past-security zone was specifically mentioned.
Nuuk has actually handled international flights for some time - the issue is they could only go to turboprop destinations like KEF, because of the runway length. The entire point of the runway extension has been to allow Nuuk to take over most international ops
When flying out to Keflavik, even transit passengers had to pass a full security screen. The staff said they didn't regard the airport as "clean", they regarded everyone as unscreened. So apparently this is not new.
I am surprised how many readers are commenting on their passports not being checked on arrival, which has nothing to do with airport security…
I *think* that this is only an issue for the flight from Canada.
Although Greenland is not part of the EU or Schengen, there's effectively an open border (no passport checks) between Nordic countries. So that covers all of Nuuk's flights except the Canada one. There probably are no passport checks between other Schengen countries either if there were flights, as many other Nordic countries are part of Schengen anyway. And, Wikipedia says so.
This...
I *think* that this is only an issue for the flight from Canada.
Although Greenland is not part of the EU or Schengen, there's effectively an open border (no passport checks) between Nordic countries. So that covers all of Nuuk's flights except the Canada one. There probably are no passport checks between other Schengen countries either if there were flights, as many other Nordic countries are part of Schengen anyway. And, Wikipedia says so.
This is vastly oversimplified for people who need visas, as Greenland visas are not EU/Schengen visas and vice-versa.
That is possible but no one checked our visa either. We had to get visa for Greenland and flew to Nuuk from Iceland. However, no one checked our visa when we landed in Greenland. We literally just walked out to taxi stand.
@Ole - That's how it's supposed to work, it's not a bug, it's a feature. There are no passport checks on arrival to Greenland from Nordic countries.
I took the YFB-GOH flight in July, followed by GOH-SFJ-CPH. This hardly comes as a surprise to me. The airport just didn't seem finished yet. There wasn't proper immigration upon arrival in GOH, just a guy who shouted (politely) US/CANADA a couple of times. Then he stamped us.
Upon departure they had analogic machines, and everything seemed to be professionally done, but I think they were letting friends and family past security, as there...
I took the YFB-GOH flight in July, followed by GOH-SFJ-CPH. This hardly comes as a surprise to me. The airport just didn't seem finished yet. There wasn't proper immigration upon arrival in GOH, just a guy who shouted (politely) US/CANADA a couple of times. Then he stamped us.
Upon departure they had analogic machines, and everything seemed to be professionally done, but I think they were letting friends and family past security, as there were lots of hugs when we boarded. The airport looks nice, it just isn't finished yet. Like not even really close to being done. In SFJ we went through security again before the flight to CPH. SFJ was normal (and a very fun avgeek experience).
It’s due to the Airport opening being forced, despite not ready. Due to the visit of The King and Queen of Denmark in July.
So the Security is severely under staffed and the few Security staff there, has been poorly trained and has no experience working in Airport Security, so a lot of f*** ups has happened
I coincidentally happened to fly to Nuuk the day before the king and queen arrived. And yeah, nobody stamped or even checked our passports upon arrival, I came in from Iceland, and it was the same deal with my friend who flew in from Canada. As we had gone to the police the next day since we wanted Greenland stamps, and they had no idea the Canada flight had even started.
Although at least in...
I coincidentally happened to fly to Nuuk the day before the king and queen arrived. And yeah, nobody stamped or even checked our passports upon arrival, I came in from Iceland, and it was the same deal with my friend who flew in from Canada. As we had gone to the police the next day since we wanted Greenland stamps, and they had no idea the Canada flight had even started.
Although at least in my experience, security on departure was standard to that of any European airport.
Although I’m not sure if iceland agrees as upon arrival we were bussed to baggage claim and had to teclear secuirty
Last July, my wife and I flew into Nuuk’s old airport and our experience was identical to that of the traveler of that charter flight. We were perplexed when we just walked out. We went back in to confirm if we took a wrong turn.
The Dots, Lines, and Destinations podcast talked about it. It's related to an "unsecured" door.
Watch out for that Back Door Santa coming around. ;)
Wonder if they forgot to install a switch to turn off the no-smoking sign?
In all seriousity, since this seems to be affecting outbound flights but not inbound flights, it's almost certainly a screening issue of some kind.