Few countries are as dependent on aviation as Greenland. With a size of 2.16 millions square kilometers (bigger than Spain, France, Germany and the UK together) and a population of only 56,000 people Greenland has by far the lowest population density on Earth. With no roads between the towns and villages the only way to get around, with the exception of the once-weekly Sarfaq Ittuq coastal ship and dogsled in winter, is flying, either by plane or by helicopter. There are no scheduled passengers ships to/from Greenland. Although Greenland has its own government and parliament the head of the state is the Queen of Denmark, they have Danish passports and they use Danish krona.
Icelandair flies small Dash 8 planes with 37 seats from Keflavík to Kulusuk, Nuuk and Ilulissat and Norlandair flies a 9 seater Beechcraft from Akureyri to Constable Point but the main way to get to Greenland is to fly with Air Greenland's A330 from Copenhagen to Kangerlussuaq, a small place with a population of only 460 people, and then connect there to the largest town of Nuuk (population 19,000) or other towns on smaller Dash 8 planes.
Kangerlussuaq has one of the longest runways in the country (2810 meters) while all other towns only have airports with shorter runways (950 meters for Nuuk). Kangerlussuaq airport was built by the US Army during WW2. It has the advantage of having more reliable weather conditions than the towns on the coast.
The construction of runways long enough for larger jets such as B737s or A321s in Nuuk and Ilulissat (the main tourist town) has been one of the main issues in Greenlandic politics for decades but very high construction costs delayed these projects for a very long time. But the decision has now been taken and both towns will have longer runways and therefore direct flights from Copenhagen within a few years. This should decrease the cost of flying considerably, allow Greenlanders to travel more and to attract more visitors. I expect that the number of tourists visiting Greenland will increase about fivefolds in the ten years following the opening of the new airports.
Flying to and within Greenland is among the most expensive in the whole word. The average price for a return flight from Copenhagen to Nuuk, a distance of 3758 kms each way, is around 1400 €. You can fly for the same amount from Denmark to Australia, a distance of over 16,000 kms .
Air Greenland's A330 leaves Copenhagen almost every day at 09.00 and arrives to Greenland at 09.40 after a flight time of 4 hours and 40 minutes.
I was travelling as a tour guide with a group of 17 people.
The airline has its own check-in staff at Copenhagen Airport Terminal 2. The ground staff was very friendly - just like everybody else in Greenland.
Check-in was done in about ten minutes.
Copenhagen Airport has had huge problems recently with waiting times at security - it's often been over an hour - but we were through in 20 minutes.
The terminal itself is one of the nicest in Europe. It has many shops and restaurants. Although there are two terminals for check-in there's only one large common area airside for departing, connecting or arriving passengers.
Icelandair, SAS and Air Greenland next to each other
Air Greenland's only A330-200 aircraft was built in 1998 and has been used by the airline since 2002. It is expected to be replaced by a new A330-800 at the end of 2022.
Business class - called Nanoq (Polar Bear) - has 30 seats in five rows in a 2-2-2 configuration. Economy class has 248 seats in a 2-4-2 configuration.
Legroom is average.
The flight was completely full.
Push-back was at 09.09 and take-off at 09.18 for a scheduled departure time of 09.00
We were offered bread snacks with angelica and a free drink (water, fruit juice, beer or wine) after reaching our cruising altitude. Liquor is available for sale but all other drinks are offered free of charge.
The most interesting pages of the on-board magazine: route map and fleet.
A cold meal was served about one hour after take-off. It included some chicken salad, bread, butter and two muffins. The meal was quite tasty for an economy class meal.
Water, tea and coffee were offered several times during and after the meal.
Each seat has a small built-in screen. It shows a map and theoretically a lot of information but neither the plane's location nor any other flight data could be seen. it was not an issue directly related to our flight but rather an ongoing problem.
The in-flight entertainment offers only a few movies.
Some Greenlandic movies and videos
Choice of music
Magazines
A very good choice of games
And some short videos about Greenland
This was my in-flight entertainment: a book about Greenland
The rear economy cabin
We landed in Kangerlussuaq a few minutes ahead of schedule. The captain announced an outside temperature of -2 but it was sunny and felt like +14.
Some photos of our beautiful plane in Kangerlussuaq:
Thank you for reading my flight report and please feel free to comment.
Hi David, such a cool FR, I am jealous.
Considering the cost of the ticket, they could really offer a choice of hot meals + free liquors...
The livery and fleet is very unique to this airline.
This A332 looks very tired from the inside, really looking forward to their A338, hopefully at the end of this year.
Thanks again :)
Hi Leadership, thank you for your comment. Air Greenland used to offer a hot meal and free liquors in economy but it was a long time ago.
I expect that aviation will change in Greenland. The longer runways will attract other airlines. Prices (and service) will go down considerably but this should bring better opportunities for Greenlanders.
Thanks David for sharing this flight onboard this old bird :) But still comfy.
Catering is really nice, although it is now a cold meal, but hey, AF serves cold meals in Business on all its medium haul flights :)
Hope to see you soon in another dinner!
Hi Esteban, thank you for your comment. I expect that both the prices and the quality of service will go down in the coming years.
Really nice report on one of the most unique air routes in the world, thank you for posting this!
Thank you for your comment!
Very cool to see a report on Air Greenland, especially the A330, since there are so few reports out there! The older style seats look comfortable and still have modern IFE, though not much content. Still pretty decent for such a small carrier. A free fresh meal on a 4h flight is pretty nice by both US and EU standards.
That livery is so beautiful ?
Can't wait to see what their A330neo looks like!
Great report as always. Thanks for sharing!
Hi KévinDC, thank you for your comment. Flying on Air Greenland is always such a special experience.
Such a fascinating experience, to say the least. Air Greenland plays such a vital role in connecting this country of extremes. This A330-200 may be old but the IFE system is as new as ever, and that was a very pleasant surprise. For what they offer, this is a fantastic product despite the extravagant price. With the new A330-800neo coming later this year, plus increased connectivity from Canadian North, one can only hope that the prices will come down and people get to experience this stunning country — reasonably of course!
Hi! Thank you for this report on such rare airline. The ticket price is insanely high but perfectly understandable. The on-board catering looks nice but a bit on the short side. At least, it's not BoB yet. The cabin seems to be average while the business class looks shabby though.
Anyway, I wish I could fly them someday! Looking forward to reading the following reports!
LYSflyer
This is an airline I craved to see an FR about! Seats, IFE and food look more than adequate for the flight, hopefully they keep PTVs on their new planes.
Thanks for sharing!