Greenland anticipates doubling the number of visitors arriving by plane during the next year, so it is building a new international airport in the capital, Nuuk.
According to the Danish Civil Aviation and Railway Authority’s website, the airport will formally open on Thursday after the 2.2-kilometer (1.4-mile) runway was certified late Wednesday following a number of test flights. Being the first international entry point into the capital of Greenland, the airport is thought to be a game-changer for local tourism because it makes it possible for larger aircraft to land in the Arctic nation.
SAS AB and Icelandair Group hf have confirmed flights from Copenhagen and Iceland’s largest airport, Keflavik, among other locations, while United Airlines Holdings Inc. will launch a direct route from Newark, New York to Nuuk beginning in June 2025. International planes used to land in the remote town of Kangerlussuaq, further north.
In the first year, Greenland Airport’s CEO, Jens Lauridsen, informed Danish newspaper Finans that passenger volume will quadruple to over 100,000 from over 50,000 per year. According to Visit Greenland, fewer than 65,000 tourists travelled by flight to Greenland in 2023, with roughly 5,000 of them passing through the capital’s current small domestic airport. Two new airports in Qaqortoq and Ilulissat are scheduled to open in 2026.