Air Greenland Announces Flagship Aircraft Will Inaugurate New 2,200 Meter Runway

Nuuk — the capital of Greenland — has been in the process of expanding its international airport. Currently, one of the only airports in Greenland capable of handling Air Greenland’s flagship Airbus A330-800neo is located in Kangerlussuaq. However, it’s a small city and is only used because of the longer runway. In addition, Kangerlussuaq is only used as a connection point to other points in Greenland. But that will all change roughly a year from now.

Air Greenland announced on their website that the full grand opening of the new runway will happen in one year, on Nov. 28, 2024, and that its flagship A330neo named ‘Tuukkaq,’ will be the first large aircraft to land and take off that day on the new runway. The CEO of Air Greenland Jacob Nitter Sørensen did have something to say about the new runway; “It has great symbolic significance that it is a red airplane from the flag carrier that inaugurates the full length of the runway, just as we also inaugurated the [current] runway in 1979 with a DASH-7. In this way, we are showing the flag on this historic day.”

Flying into Nuuk, Greenland (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)

Accommodating the Airline’s Largest Jet

The A330neo’s current route is from Kangerlussuaq to Copenhagen, but now that the runway in Nuuk opens in less than a year that route will end and be moved to Nuuk. Air Greenland has stated that “the timetable must be changed to incorporate the new direct route between Nuuk and Copenhagen, and work has begun.”

Along with the new runway expansion, Nuuk will also be receiving a new larger passenger terminal, capable of handling the larger passenger loads from the A330 flagship and moving away from the current smaller terminal. Right now, according to the airline, the runway in Nuuk only measures 3,117-feet (950 meters) and the largest aircraft it can handle is the Dash-8, which Air Greenland operates to points around the country. But, with the new expansion the runway will be more than doubling in length to roughly 7217-feet (2,200 meters).

Nuuk’s current runway from above, pictured in May 2023 (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)

AirlineGeeks flew on Air Greenland’s flagship back in May of 2023, between Kangerlussuaq and Copenhagen, Denmark.

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Joey Gerardi

Joey has always been interested in planes for as long as he can remember. He grew up in Central New York during the early 2000s when US Airways Express turboprops ruled the skies. Being from a non-aviation family made it harder for him to be around planes and would only spend about three hours a month at the airport. He was so excited when he could drive by himself, the first thing he did with his driver's license was get ice cream and go plane spotting for the entire day. He graduated from Western Michigan University in 2022 with a B.S. in Aviation Management & Operations and a Minor in Business, and currently works for a major airline in his hometown.

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