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Greenland’s Capital Expects Air Service Increase

The city is about to see a massive capacity boost next summer.

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

Nuuk, Greenland, one of the northernmost capitals in the world, is reaching the end of a massive expansion project at the airport. Greenland is a unique and fascinating country for many reasons. Although it is geographically located in North America, it is an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. Therefore, the country operates within the Schengen zone of Europe, meaning all of its current flights except one are “domestic.”

A flight from the northeast United States to Greenland’s capital of Nuuk is 800 miles shorter than a flight from New York to Los Angeles. As of now, there’s no non-stop service between the U.S. and Greenland. 

This past summer was the first time in years that service was offered from Greenland to Canada via Iqaluit once a week, including a partnership with Canadian North with connections to the southern part of Canada. Even with the new flights, Iqaluit isn’t an easy place to get to either with only a flight or two a day from Montreal or Ottawa.

Nuuk Airport Info

In Nuuk, the airport expanded its runway from 3,117 feet (950 meters) to 7,217 feet (2200 meters). This was a big achievement for the airport as the biggest aircraft that can currently land in Nuuk is the small 37-seat Dash-8~200. But when the runway is finally open, it will be able to handle Air Greenland’s flagship Airbus A330-800neo.

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Air Greenland’s sole Airbus A300-800neo seconds before touching down in Kangerlussuaq (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)

Until the end of November when the new runway in Nuuk opens, Kangerlussuaq is currently the only airport and runway in the entire country that can handle Air Greenland’s A330-800neo, except for Pituffik Space Base (formerly Thule Air Force Base) in the northern part of the country which is occasionally used for military charters and doesn’t see many commercial flights.

The terminal in Kangerlussuaq (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)

Kangerlussuaq is not one of Greenland‘s most populated cities by any means, and when the A330-800neo comes in, the population of the town more than doubles with the combination of inbound and outbound passengers. The airport in Kangerlussuaq is predominantly made for connections onward to other cities in Greenland or cruise ships and usually isn’t a final destination for very many people.

But, with the runway expansion in Nuuk, the country is about to become more accessible than ever to not only those in Europe but North America and beyond as well, given United’s recent announcement that it plans to serve the country next summer. With United, passengers will be able to have the same airline service from every single inhabited continent to Greenland with a max of just two connections, most of which will be one-stop flights.

With the runway extension also comes a new terminal to handle the massive increase in passengers going through the airport. The terminal has opened already with the old terminal building being demolished.

The terminal in Nuuk, which has since been demolished in the summer of 2024 (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)

This isn’t to say that other airports in Greenland don’t see international service. Narsarsuaq sees service with Icelandair on the Q400 as well as the 737 MAX during the high tourist season, along with Air Greenland flights on board leased 737s to Denmark. Kulusuk, on the country’s eastern coast, along with Ilulissat located on the west coast, both see Air Greenland and Icelandair service to Reykjavik on the Dash-8~200.

Nuuk’s Service Explained

Air Greenland is planning on moving its international hub to Nuuk along with its flagship route to Copenhagen on the A330. Air Greenland restarted service to Iqaluit in Canada from Nuuk this past summer season and will continue to be operated out of the city on the Dash-8~200.

Moving the flagship Copenhagen service from Kangerlussuaq to Nuuk has always been part of the plan and is not new information. The airline’s A330-800 is also going to be the aircraft that inaugurates the new runway in Nuuk at the end of NovemberBut, what was not expected was the massive increase in activity and interest from other airlines.

United will begin serving the city in June 2025 using the Boeing 737 MAX 8 from Newark twice a week. In addition, Icelandair also has a large capacity increase planned for Greenland’s capital. 

At the end of November 2024, once the runway opens, Icelandair will be upgrading its Nuuk service from a 37-seat Dash-8~200 to a 76-seat Q400. This already doubles the capacity of Icelandair in Nuuk, and that’s just for the winter months.

Icelandair Q400 (Photo: AirlineGeeks | John Flett)

In June 2025, around the same time as when United begins service to Nuuk, Icelandair will be doubling capacity once again, going from a Q400 to a 737 MAX 8 which seats 160 people, and its flights will be three times a week.

Plus, once again in June 2025, Air Greenland will be upgrading its twice-weekly service to Reykjavik in Iceland from its own 37-seat Dash-8~200, to a 189-seat Boeing 737-800 presumably leased from Jettime, with which they have a long-standing partnership. But, the service will go from twice weekly to once every 10-16 days from June to September, with two of the flights operating on its A330-800.

Despite the decrease in flight frequency, the number of overall seats per month will still increase. The infrequency of the service is most likely contributed to the stiff competition from Icelandair on the route, as it offers onward connections to the rest of Europe and North America.

While an increase in service is great for not just Nuuk but the overall country as well, it will come at a cost which the CEO of Air Greenland worries about and is one of the main reasons why the airline hasn’t announced a massive expansion yet: a lack of hotel rooms.

AirlineGeeks had a chance to interview the CEO of Air Greenland Jacob Nitter Sørensen back in January, and he even said expansion west and to the United States is a possibility.

“We’re definitely looking at the United States. There’s a great interest in Greenland in the United States, and it’s actually a very short flight from Greenland to say New York,” he said. “We are definitely looking at expanding towards the west, but the main constraint at the moment is that all the hotel capacity, the receiving capacity increment is close to maximum at the moment, so we could open a route, but then we’ll just cannibalize passengers from other regions because the whole system is running at close to max capacity at the moment.”

Looking at the Numbers

Icelandair service to Reykjavik is going from four-weekly flights on 37-seat aircraft to three weekly flights on a 160-seat Boeing 737 MAX 8, and will now offer first-class seats as well. The airline will be going from 592 seats to 1,920 seats a month on the route.

United has never served Nuuk before and is the first U.S. carrier to ever serve the country of Greenland. Assuming the route continues to be on a Boeing 737 MAX 8, the airline will go from 0 seats to about 1,328 a month.

Iqaluit service stays the same with once weekly service and there is no announcement or indication of that changing next season.

Reykjavík service on board Air Greenland will go from roughly 296 seats to 376 during a given 30-day period so capacity will increase overall for Air Greenland to Iceland even though the new flights are a lot less frequent.

Air Greenland’s seasonal service to Billund, Denmark will also be moving from Kangerlussuaq to Nuuk and will operate once a week beginning March 2025 on a leased Boeing 737-800 assumably from Jettime, which has 189 seats.

In Nuuk alone, the monthly capacity is going up at least 500% during the summer months, and that figure doesn’t even include the few times the A330 will be flying the Iceland route which will add even more seats to the city.

It’s only October and the summer tourist season is still eight months away so there is still a chance airlines could increase this capacity even more if they see bookings trend in the right direction.

Ilulissat, another popular tourist destination in the country which is located north of Kangerlussuaq, is going to be opening its longer runway in the next year or so. Furthermore, there are most likely a handful of airlines that haven’t directly announced interest in Greenland. For example, the CEO of Icelandic budget carrier PLAY said in an interview with AirlineGeeks that he would be surprised if they don’t add flights to the country in the next couple of years.

Joey Gerardi

Author

  • Joey Gerardi

    Joe 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 and the first thing he did with the license was get ice cream and go plane spotting for the entire day. When he has the time (and money) he likes to take spotting trips to any location worth a visit. He’s currently enrolled at Western Michigan University earning a degree in Aviation Management and Operations.

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