Ilulissat Airport ( kl, Mittarfik Ilulissat, da, Ilulissat Lufthavn); () is a minor
international airport serving
Ilulissat,
Greenland
Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland i ...
, the entire
Disko Bay Region, the
North
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.
Etymology
The word ''north ...
and
West Greenland
Kitaa, originally Vestgrønland ("West Greenland"), is a former administrative division of Greenland. It was by far the most populated of the divisions, being home to almost 90% of the total population. The divisions were de facto replaced by st ...
. It is the 59th largest airport in the
Nordic countries with 83,000 passengers in 2012 and is the second airport built in Greenland for civilian travel partially funded by the
EU (former
EC)
Structural Funds and Cohesion Fund. It is the third-busiest airport in
Greenland
Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland i ...
, and one of the busiest for international travel in
Greenland
Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland i ...
.
The airport is located north-east of
Ilulissat, just of city centre. It was built in 1983,
[Air Greenland, History](_blank)
replacing the heliport.
The airport is the main
hub out of three used by
Air Greenland
Air Greenland A/S (formerly named Grønlandsfly), also known as Greenlandair, is the flag carrier airline of Greenland, owned by the Greenlandic Government. It operates a fleet of 32 aircraft, including 1 airliner used for transatlantic and ch ...
.
Airport expansion
The purpose of Ilulissat Airport has been debated in Greenland for decades; there has been pressure for runway extension from the local tourist industry and municipal authorities. An expansion considering constructing a new airport in Ilulissat is in progress. The expansion of the airport will feature a runway to let the airport receive direct international
airliner flights from mainland
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
and the
Americas
The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World.
Along with th ...
. It will be located just north of the present airport The airport will then (together with
Nuuk Airport
Nuuk Airport ( kl, Mittarfik Nuuk; da, Godthåb Lufthavn; is an airport serving Nuuk, the capital of Greenland. The airport is a technical base and focus city for Air Greenland, the flag carrier airline of Greenland, linking the capital with s ...
which will also be expanded) join or even replace
Kangerlussuaq Airport
Kangerlussuaq Airport ( kl, Mittarfik Kangerlussuaq, da, Søndre Strømfjord Lufthavn) is an airport in Kangerlussuaq, a settlement in the Qeqqata municipality in central-western Greenland. Alongside Narsarsuaq Airport, it is one of only two ...
as a primary hub, effectively becoming an international gateway to western and northwestern Greenland. There is a general debate on extending or replacing most airports in Greenland, since most are ill located former air bases, or very short.
Airlines and destinations
Air Greenland operates government contract flights to villages in the Disko Bay area. These mostly cargo flights are not featured in the timetable, although they can be pre-booked. Departure times for these flights as specified during booking are by definition approximate, with the settlement service optimized on the fly depending on local demand for a given day. Settlement flights in the Disko Bay and
Aasiaat
Aasiaat () or Ausiait, formerly Egedesminde, is a town in the Qeqertalik municipality in western Greenland, located in the heart of Aasiaat Archipelago at the southern end of Disko Bay. With a population of 3,069 as of 2020, it is Greenland's fo ...
archipelago areas are operated only during winter and spring. During summer and autumn, communication between settlements is by sea only, serviced by
Diskoline
Disko Line A/S is a passenger and freight ferry line in western Greenland. It was founded in 2004DiskolineAbout/ref> as a small freight company.
Complementary transport services
Diskoline provides sea transport services on contract with the ...
.
Accidents and incidents
* On 29 January 2014, a De Havilland DHC-8 operated by Air Greenland (Flight 3205) suffered substantial damage in a landing accident. On landing, the left main gear collapsed and the plane skidded down a slope and came to a rest near the perimeter fence. This caused three injuries, not serious, and aircraft scrapped. The cause was a pilot error in difficult wind conditions.
See also
*
List of airports in Greenland
This is a list of airports in Greenland, grouped by type and sorted by location. Air travel is extremely important in Greenland, since there are generally no roads between settlements. Arctic Umiaq Line provides passenger and freight services by ...
*
List of the busiest airports in the Nordic countries
This is a list of the 100 busiest airports in the Nordic countries by passengers per year, aircraft movements per year and freight and mail tonnes per year.
The list also includes yearly statistics for the busiest metropolitan airport systems and ...
References
External links
{{authority control
Airports in Greenland
Airports in the Arctic
Ilulissat
Disko Bay