Greenland has seen a significant increase in air service in recent times, thanks in large part to the opening of the expanded Nuuk Airport (GOH), allowing jet service to Greenland’s capital. This improved facility, along with the general desire for unique travel experience, has caused airlines like United to add service to the territory.
Along those lines, Nuuk is facing a major new challenge with air service, which is causing a particular headache for Air Greenland.
In this post:
Nuuk Airport restricted to four flights per hour
On September 22, 2025, the Danish Transport Authority issued a directive to Greenland Airports, introducing restrictions in the airspace around Nuuk Airport, intended to enhance flight safety.
The airport has to follow a new “2-4-4” concept, which defines how many flight operations can be conducted at the airport within each 60-minute window. In any given hour, the airport can see at most two arrivals, at most four departures, and no more than four total operations.
In other words, in a 60-minute window, the airport can have two arrivals and two departures, one arrival and three departures, or zero arrivals and four departures.
Additionally, there must be at least five minutes between each operation, and a minimum of 20 minutes between two arrivals. Helicopter restrictions are also restricted, with only one local helicopter operation conducted within 20 nautical miles of the airport at any given time.
It’s not entirely clear what’s driving these restrictions. We’ve now seen the airport have to suspend all international flights multiple times over security issues, so it’s anyone’s guess how this factors into that. However, these restrictions seem to center more around airspace usage, based on the way they’re structured.
This is a major problem for Air Greenland
Air Greenland is the biggest airline in Greenland (as you may have guessed), and these new restrictions are causing logistical challenges for the airline. The airline only has 10 aircraft, so you wouldn’t think these restrictions would be that bad.
The problem is that Air Greenland’s route network is structured as a hub-and-spoke system, where most flights depart from and return to the central hub in Nuuk, which enables a wide range of same day connections between towns, settlements, and international destinations.
Based on this structure, Air Greenland has allocated aircraft, crews, and ground staff, and has applied for and been granted slot times at Nuuk Airport. Minimizing travel time has always been a key priority for Air Greenland, as flight time is a critical factor for customers.
That system allowed for relatively many arrivals and departures at the same time in Nuuk Airport, which is something that is no longer possible. Here’s how Air Greenland’s COO, Line Frederiksen, describes the impact of these changes:
“It has been very important to assess the immediate impact of the operational cap on Air Greenland’s flight schedule and our service to customers. We now face a massive puzzle to rebuild a schedule that resembles the original.”
“Before the change, Air Greenland operated up to eight flight operations per hour in connection with transatlantic flights to and from Denmark. Now, only four are allowed. This means that approximately 40% of same-day connections between the coast and Nuuk, where the transatlantic flight lands, can no longer be maintained. In addition, foreign aircraft further limit the number of possible operations.”
“We can already confirm a reduction in service, especially on domestic routes, and customers should expect overnight stays depending on where their journey begins and ends. Air Greenland is now issuing schedule changes, and for changes within 14 days of departure, overnight costs will be covered by Air Greenland. Beyond that, it will be the customer’s own responsibility.”
“In cases of irregularity, such as cancellations due to weather or technical issues, the restrictions will also limit Air Greenland’s ability to deploy additional flights, as scheduled operations already fill Nuuk Airport’s capacity. As a result, affected customers will unfortunately experience longer delays than previously, and Air Greenland will face significantly increased costs due to irregularities, which we are working to address.”
The airline and airport authority are reportedly partnering on a way to improve this situation, and hope to find a solution that minimizes the impact on passengers within the next four to five weeks. Again, without knowing more of what’s causing this issue, it’s also hard to know how realistic this is.
Bottom line
Greenland’s biggest airport is facing some major challenges, after a new flight cap has been rolled out. The airport can now only handle up to four movements per hour, with at most two arrivals per hour. This poses a major challenge for Air Greenland’s hub-and-spoke system, which is reliant on planes arriving and departing around the same time. It remains to be seen if some long term solution can be found here, but yeah, this seems rough.
What do you make of this Nuuk Airport flight cap situation?
No hat tip? ;-)
I suspect that this is driven by the fact that GOH is not controlled by a tower - it is a Flight Information Center and the Danes don't like "busy" airspace relying on advisory services only.
https://www.naviair.dk/air-traffic-control/nuuk-fic
Perhaps an Air Traffic Control staffing issue.
I spent a number of years working at a remote airport, and the lack of diversionary airports was a big driver for us on a cap like this. Weather issues, ground emergencies, runway maintenance issues… and plenty of other things could immediately result in a closure.
Oh ho! Maybe joining a dysfunctional fascist state is looking a little more attractive - our freedom would let these people pop off a new flight operation every 2 minutes if they want.
Wikipedia says Air Greenland also has 18 helicopters, for domestic service to "villages." Seven of these carry 12 passengers, and 2 can carry up to 19, although they are usually configured as air ambulances for search and rescue. If those flights are counted in the hourly limits, I can see where connections are being spread too thin.
Do they want people to visit or not
They want the right type of people to visit. Limit quantity not quality ($).
There is not much in Nuuk anyway, the best stuff is up north and down south - where you can fly into directly from Iceland anyway.
You can?
As I understand it, the only airport with routinely-staffed immigration facilities is Nuuk. Even Kangerlussuaq is now only open for international arrivals as a last resort; Air Greenland's jet will return to Copenhagen in preference to landing in Kangerlussuaq. And Greenland isn't in Schengen.
I had not heard about direct flights from Iceland to other towns. Where do they fly? Who flies there? How do they do immigration?
I'm afraid your understanding is wrong - Icelandair flies summer seasonally to Ilulissat, Kulusuk & Narsarsuaq from Keflavik. Norlandair flies from Reykavik to Nerlerit Inaat year round (the only link), and lastly Jettime on behalf of Air Greenland have a slightly patchy but mostly about 2 times a week flight from Copenhagen to Kangerlussaq, continuing to Nuuk - though I'm not aware if these passengers clear in Kangerlussaq, or only those disembarking. In winter, they...
I'm afraid your understanding is wrong - Icelandair flies summer seasonally to Ilulissat, Kulusuk & Narsarsuaq from Keflavik. Norlandair flies from Reykavik to Nerlerit Inaat year round (the only link), and lastly Jettime on behalf of Air Greenland have a slightly patchy but mostly about 2 times a week flight from Copenhagen to Kangerlussaq, continuing to Nuuk - though I'm not aware if these passengers clear in Kangerlussaq, or only those disembarking. In winter, they probably do only bother to staff Nuuk (and Nelerit Inaat) however.
Wow, what a mess that seems to be continuing since the expansion of NUK. I am sure Air Greenland must be cursing the closure of Kangerlussaq and forced to move to such a messy airport....
There literally is no airport in the world with the code NUK.
GOH would be the code for Nuuk airport.
Kangerlussaq is still open and gets flights from Copenhagen in summer, as well as domestic Greenland flights year round, being the normal alternative for flights that can't land at Nuuk.