Greenland opening larger international airport, accommodate larger planes for 1st time

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A new international airport will soon open in Greenland’s capital Nuuk, allowing larger aircraft to land for the first time - paving the way for direct flights from the US and Europe.

It’s the first of three airport projects that officials hope will boost the local economy, by making the Arctic territory more accessible than ever before.

Covered by an ice cap and sparsely populated, Greenland is a vast autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark.

Its capital Nuuk, on the southwestern coast, is a small town of 18,000 residents. Modern apartment blocks and colourful wooden cottages look out over a wide sea fjord.

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But from the end of November, large planes will be able to land at Nuuk for the first time, thanks to a new longer runway, and a sleek new terminal building.

“I think it will be a big impact,” says Jens Lauridsen, the chief executive of operator Greenland Airports. “I’m sure we will see a lot of tourism, and we'll see a lot of change.”

As I visit, diggers are shifting piles of rubble along the edge of the extended runway, and the finishing touches are being applied to the new terminal.

From 28 November, direct flights to Nuuk will operate from Copenhagen, carrying more than 300 passengers. And next summer, United Airlines will begin flying from New York, as Nuuk becomes Greenland’s main travel hub.

“We have been shut from the whole world, and now we're going to open to the world,” says one young Nuuk resident. “It's so exciting that we're going to have the opportunity to travel from here to another country.”

In 2026, a second international airport will open in Greenland’s most popular tourist destination, the town of Ilulissat, 350 miles north of Nuuk. Ilulissat is renowned for the huge icebergs that float just off its coastline. A new regional airport, in Qaqartoq, the biggest town in the south of Greenland, will then follow.

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