Seaplane era

In the early 1960s, after the establishment of Air Greenland on 7 November 1960 as Grønlandsfly,^[4] Nuuk was served exclusively by the PBY Catalina flying boat, with the aircraft using the waterways of the Nuuk Port as a landing site.^[4] In 1962 a PBY Catalina crashed near the port, killing 15 people on board.^[4]

Helicopter era

The Sikorsky S-61N helicopter connected Nuuk with smaller towns for more than four decades.

The tragedy was one of the factors leading to the decision to invest in a helicopter fleet. The Sikorsky S-61N machines—still in use in 2010^[5]—proved to be a more reliable mode of transport for the city, providing exclusive service for the Nuuk city for more than a decade—from the purchase date in 1965 until the late 1970s.^[4]

Even in the later era of the fixed-wing, turboprop plane domination, the S-61N helicopters continued to link Nuuk with the smaller town of Paamiut, until the airport was built there in 2007, replacing the old heliport.^[6]

Regional airport network

Nuuk Airport was built in 1979,^[7] when the then newly formed home rule government decided to create a network of the STOL-capable domestic airports.^[8] The airport in the largest city in Greenland was a priority for the government, followed by Kulusuk Airport^[8] in Kulusuk in south-eastern Greenland, and Ilulissat Airport^[8] in Ilulissat, the largest town in the Disko Bay region of western Greenland. This constituted the first such wave of network expansion.^[8]

Network expansion

It was not until the 1990s that the network experienced another spurt of large-scale growth, when the airports in the remaining larger towns were built: Sisimiut Airport in Sisimiut and Maniitsoq Airport in Maniitsoq in central-western Greenland,^[9] Aasiaat Airport in the Disko Bay region,^[9] Upernavik Airport in Upernavik in northwestern Greenland,^[9] and Qaarsut Airport,^[9] an airport in Qaarsut, a settlement in the Uummannaq Fjord region; the airport serving both the village and the larger town of Uummannaq,^[10] located on the rocky Uummannaq Island.

2000-onwards

The landscape beyond the northern end of the runway. There is little room for expansion there, so most of the expansion is beyond the southern end.

Air Greenland check-in desk at the terminal

Air Greenland has its technical base at Nuuk Airport (hangars pictured).

The first international flights from Nuuk Airport were to Iqaluit in Nunavut, Canada. This connection was closed 13 years later,^[8] and for years afterwards international flights to Greenland were limited to Kangerlussuaq Airport in central western Greenland, 319 km (198 mi) to the north of Nuuk, an airport inherited from the U.S. Air Force when the former Sondrestrom Air Base was handed over to the then home rule government on 30 September 1992.

With the airport being limited to serving small planes, the possibilities for international connections remain limited. Reopening of the connection to Iqaluit Airport was considered by Air Greenland in late 2009, but was later postponed until at least 2011.^[11] In order to compete with Icelandair, which operates services to Nuuk, Narsarsuaq, Ilulissat, and all airports on the eastern coast,^[12] Air Greenland announced opening of new connections with Iceland,^[13] linking Nuuk and Narsarsuaq with Keflavík International Airport, later restricting it to Nuuk.^[14] Air Greenland's seasonal flights to Iqaluit in Canada finally resumed in summer 2012, but ended before summer 2015.^[15] Air Greenland will relaunch its summer seasonal route between Nuuk and Iqaluit at once-weekly frequency for the 2024 season with its Dash 8.^[16]

The Bombardier Dash 8-Q200 turboprops, acquired in Spring 2010, are the newest planes in the Air Greenland fleet,^[17] and are based at the airport.

Nuuk Airport is also home to the Beechcraft King Air B200 "Amaalik", used for air ambulance flights and occasional charters.^[18]

The airport is also used for various charter flights, such as airlifts to the summit of the 1,210 m (3,970 ft)^[19] Sermitsiaq Mountain,^[20] a landmark of Nuuk, located on Sermitsiaq Island north of the airport. The airport is also used for shuttle flights for events like the 2010 Inuit Circumpolar Council general assembly in Nuuk.^[21] and for the 2016 Arctic Winter Games. In general the short runway is a problem for large events in Nuuk. Charter and extra flights from outside Greenland can not land in Nuuk (or any other city of Greenland), so Air Greenland need to shuttle passengers between Kangerlussuaq and Nuuk, using planes much smaller than the charter planes, often requiring a hotel night in Kangerlussuaq.^[22]

Runway expansion

Current terminal

New terminal under construction in 2023

Nuuk airport has one asphalt runway (05/23) 950 m × 30 m (3,117 ft × 98 ft) 283 ft (86 m) above sea level.^[1] The airport terminal and apron are built on a levelled platform on an undulating slope under the Quassussuaq mountain, with the runway platform artificially elevated to compensate for the scarp immediately to the west. The runway platform bed is composed of broken rock and rubble, topped with gravel, and protected by a low, wooden fence. The short runway is highly problematic as established previously, as it makes the airfield unusable for even regional jet aircraft (for instance the Bombardier CRJ family), instead requiring highly-specialised STOL-capable aircraft to be used, which are both limited in size and numbers.

There is an ongoing extension project for the runway. After 2010 there are no aircraft that can be purchased, which have more than 30 seats and can use short runways like Nuuk. When the existing Dash-8 200 retire or more aircraft are needed, a longer runway is necessary.

The northern end of the runway is less than 700 m (2,300 ft) from the shore of Nuup Kangerlua fjord. An expansion of the runway in that direction would require relocation of the connecting road, which climbs under the runway scarp. An often-discussed extension of the runway^[23][24] in the other direction would have brought the endpoint close to Qinngorput, the newest district of Nuuk, rapidly expanding in the late 2000s. Also an expansion should not obstruct ongoing traffic since there is no other runway or airport reachable by road.

Suggestions were extend it from 950 m (3,117 ft) to 1,199 m (3,934 ft),^[25] to 1,700 m (5,600 ft), or 2,200 m (7,200 ft) (the longest possible) the latter which would allow direct flights to Denmark, but only with medium-size jet aircraft such as the Boeing 737 or Airbus A320 instead of the large Airbus A330 used at present. As a result, more flights are needed.^[26] The extension issue has been a long-standing topic of ongoing controversy in Greenland.^[23][24] Rough weather in the region is cited as life-threatening to larger airplanes, given the additional difficulty of approach in a mountainous region.^[23] Another suggested alternative was to build a new airport on one of the islands of Angisunnguaq or Qeqertarssuaq, locations having less turbulence, and allowing 2,800 m (9,200 ft) runway needed for the large planes used today to Denmark. These are located a few kilometres south of Nuuk and would need a bridge or tunnel connection. Such a project could cost somewhere around 2–3 billion DKK.^[26]

A decision has been made to extend the runway to 2,200 m (7,200 ft).^[27] In 2016 the state-owned company Kalaallit Airports A/S was formed. It shall build or rebuild (extend) the airports in Nuuk, Ilulissat and Qaqortoq, and thereafter own them. Construction start was November 2019.^[28][29] The time plan, which has the aim to keep traffic going, is to build the southern extension until July 2021, use it for air activities and to build the rest of the new runway and new terminal building and finish the project in 2024. Operations on the southern extension began in November 2022.^[30]

Greenland hub

Air Greenland Dash 8-200 in Nuuk

In contrast to Nuuk Airport, the airport in Kangerlussuaq retains the capacity to accommodate large airliners and serves as the central hub for Air Greenland, the designated flag carrier of Greenland. Despite its minimal population, Kangerlussuaq primarily functions as a transit point for changing aircraft. Shifting the hub to Nuuk would eliminate the need for aircraft changes for numerous travellers, necessitating a runway extension to approximately 2,000 m (6,600 ft).

Air Greenland is resistant to relocating its hub, pointing out the financial implications of such a move, and highlighting the consistently favourable weather conditions at Kangerlussuaq. Situated deep inland, about 30 km (19 mi) from the fringe of the Greenland ice sheet (known as Greenlandic: Sermersuaq), Kangerlussuaq benefits from excellent infrastructure and unhindered visibility, unlike the coastal fogs, storms, heavy snowfall, and frequent turbulence prevalent near the coastline.^[23]

Another alternative proposed involves making Keflavik Airport (Iceland's primary international airport) the international hub, in proximity to Kangerlussuaq, and slightly expanding the Nuuk Airport runway to accommodate small jet planes.^[26] (Icelandair has already established a network connecting Greenland and Reykjavík, Iceland)

These well-substantiated arguments in favor of maintaining the current arrangement pose a challenge for the Government of Greenland, which supervises airport network development through Mittarfeqarfiit, the airport administration authority. With more than a third of Greenland's populace residing in Nuuk,^[31] and the majority of the country's significant institutions situated in the city, the requirement to change planes in Kangerlussuaq proves costly and time-consuming for passengers, particularly for larger groups utilizing long-distance charter planes.^[24]

Air connections are essential for cruise ship passengers, as staying onboard from Europe or the USA and back is often too time-consuming and expensive. Some cruise ships take the extended route to Kangerlussuaq to facilitate passenger exchange (as there is no suitable port, passengers must transfer to small boats), while others utilize the Nuuk-Kangerlussuaq feeder flights. However, these flights have insufficient capacity for cruise ships. Direct charter flights are desired. Expanding the runway would bolster cruise ship tourism.