Greenland is a fascinating destination that hasn’t historically seen many tourists. That’s for a variety of reasons, including that there’s only so much capacity in terms of accommodations. On top of that, flying to Greenland has been rather complex… up until now.
We’ve now seen the opening of the country’s new major international airport, and as of today, Air Greenland has shifted its jet operations to here. Let’s go over all the details, as it makes Greenland much more accessible.
In this post:
Greenland’s capital now has a new airport
Air Greenland is the flag carrier of Greenland, and the airline operates a fleet consisting primarily of one Airbus A330-800neo and seven De Havilland Canada Dash 8-200s. The carrier’s longest route is to Copenhagen. The catch is that while Nuuk is Greenland’s capital and most populous city, that’s not where the wide body jet has flown to up until this point.
Instead, Air Greenland has operated the A330-800neo between Kangerlussuaq Airport (SJF) and Copenhagen Airport (CPH). Kangerlussuaq is a small town, but the reason that the service was operated to there is because the airport had one of the only runways in Greenland big enough to handle larger jets.
Greenland had been working on changing that, by expanding Nuuk Airport (GOH). The most significant development is that work has been done to expand the runway to 2,000 meters (6,600 feet) long and 45 meters (147 feet) wide, making it big enough for the A330 to fly there. As a point of comparison, the airport’s runway was previously only 930 meters (3,051 feet) long, so this project more than doubled the length.
The expanded airport in Nuuk is officially opening as of today, November 28, 2024. This includes both the extended runway and the new terminal (though the new terminal has been open since this spring).
What are the practical implications of this new airport?
In terms of passenger capacity, the single biggest change is that Air Greenland is switching its A330 operations from Kangerlussuaq to Nuuk as of today, November 28, 2024. The flight has different schedules depending on the day of the week, as follows:
GL780 Nuuk to Copenhagen departing 12:10PM arriving 7:30PM
GL779 Copenhagen to Nuuk departing 8:20AM arriving 10:10AM
GL782 Nuuk to Copenhagen departing 2:30PM arriving 10:00PM
GL781 Copenhagen to Nuuk departing 10:45AM arriving 12:35PM
This has huge implications:
- It greatly simplifies travel to and from Greenland for many visitors, and eliminates a connection, given that Kangerlussuaq was mainly just an airport for transit
- Not only does this new airport shorten travel time, but previously any sort of bad weather meant travelers would be stuck, while that should be less of an issue going forward
- Obviously this has a major impact on the small town of Kangerlussuaq, since much of the air service there was intended to connect to Air Greenland’s other services within Greenland
With the expanded airport being open, we’re seeing route additions beyond just Air Greenland. In the summer of 2025, United will fly to Nuuk 2x weekly from Newark (EWR), and SAS will fly to Nuuk 3x weekly from Copenhagen (CPH). This represents a major capacity increase for the airport.
In the summer of 2025, we’ll also see Air Greenland resume flights to Canada, with a 513-mile turboprop flight from Nuuk to Iqaluit (YFB), connecting Greenland to the Canadian Arctic. With Nuuk soon being capable of handling jets, it sure would be awesome to see Air Greenland fly to the United States, or something.
While Greenland will see a large increase in terms of the number of seats on planes, it remains to be seen how the area will do with a huge increase in tourism. After all, there are only so many accommodations in Greenland, so it’s not a place that can easily handle over tourism.
Bottom line
Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, now has a new international airport, which has opened as of late November 2024. The biggest improvement with this new airport is that it features a much longer runway, so it’s able to accommodate jets.
With this, Air Greenland’s A330-800neo has moved from Kangerlussuaq to Nuuk, making for a much easier travel experience for most. On top of that, we’ve seen both United and SAS announce new routes to Greenland, given the opportunities the airport opens up.
What do you make of the opening of the new Nuuk International Airport?
Ha HA HA.......who cares!!!!!!! Go eat some turkey and give this a rest!
You do believe in Thanksgiving? Right?
there will still be flight twice a week to sfj in the summertime of 2025 ,mainly for tourist.. who want to enjoy the summer inland, climate at greenland.
https://agent.airgreenland.com/hc/en-us/articles/15154300856732-Flightschedule-for-summer-2025
“It greatly simplifies travel to and from Greenland for many visitors, and eliminates a connection, given that Kangerlussuaq was mainly just an airport for transit“
Part of what you said may be true for business or government travelers, but certainly not for tourists. As others noted, Nuuk isn’t a tourist destination, but Kangerlussuaq is for visiting the ice cap and viewing the Aurora, so tourists will still need to connect to their final destination elsewhere...
“It greatly simplifies travel to and from Greenland for many visitors, and eliminates a connection, given that Kangerlussuaq was mainly just an airport for transit“
Part of what you said may be true for business or government travelers, but certainly not for tourists. As others noted, Nuuk isn’t a tourist destination, but Kangerlussuaq is for visiting the ice cap and viewing the Aurora, so tourists will still need to connect to their final destination elsewhere in Greenland and now that’ll entail longer internal flights. Which is not to say the change doesn’t make sense or that it won’t make it easier for future international travel/connections.
It’s certainly easier for tourists from North America, no matter where they’re going.
Instead of having to fly all the way to CPH and then come back, they can fly via EWR.
There goes the neighborhood.
There was more going on in Kangerlussuaq than many people assumed. There was a whole tourism industry there made to take people to the ice cap. There were guest houses, stores, a nice hotel, and the homes of many Air Greenland employees. It definitely makes sense to move the hub to Nuuk, but SFJ was sunny and warm in the summer. Nuuk isn't. For anyone who has ever been there, the buzz of the afternoon...
There was more going on in Kangerlussuaq than many people assumed. There was a whole tourism industry there made to take people to the ice cap. There were guest houses, stores, a nice hotel, and the homes of many Air Greenland employees. It definitely makes sense to move the hub to Nuuk, but SFJ was sunny and warm in the summer. Nuuk isn't. For anyone who has ever been there, the buzz of the afternoon departure around town before the CPH flight went was palpable. I'm glad I got to see it because that feeling won't be replicated at the GOH airport
Absolutely. Kangerlussuaq has a special history, having been a U.S. base during WWII (which is why it has a long runway), and because it’s located at the head of a long fjord it provides some of the easiest access to the ice cap, just a few miles inland. I can’t imagine spending a lot of time there, but neither would I spend more than a couple days in Nuuk. The appeal of Greenland lies outside...
Absolutely. Kangerlussuaq has a special history, having been a U.S. base during WWII (which is why it has a long runway), and because it’s located at the head of a long fjord it provides some of the easiest access to the ice cap, just a few miles inland. I can’t imagine spending a lot of time there, but neither would I spend more than a couple days in Nuuk. The appeal of Greenland lies outside these communities, and people jumping on the new flights to get a passport stamp are going to be in for a rude (and expensive) shock.