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 sea but is limited to the southwest coast and travel time is long and departures sparse.

History

The first airports in Greenland were built by and for the United States defense. The first and largest was Kangerlussuaq Airport in 1941, followed by Narsarsuaq Airport in 1942 and Kulusuk Airport in 1956. Due to their distance from major settlements, these were not initially used for civilian travel. In the early 1960s, Greenlandair was founded, commencing civilian flights between the air bases, and helicopter and sea plane flights to large settlements. SAS operated the connection from Copenhagen to Kangerlussuaq, beginning in 1954 as a fuel stop en route to United States, which was later taken over in 2000 by Air Greenland.
Beginning with Nuuk Airport in 1979 and Ilulissat Airport in 1983, several airports with short runways were built.

Airports

Many locations in Greenland have Danish names in addition to their Greenlandic names. The Danish name, where applicable, is shown in italics. Airport or heliport names shown in bold indicate the facility has scheduled passenger service on a commercial airline.
Several of the airports do not have road connection with the local major settlement, so a helicopter transfer is often needed by most passengers to some airports. Airports with a very small population reachable by road include Kangerlussuaq Airport, Kulusuk Airport, Narsarsuaq Airport, Nerlerit Inaat Airport and Qaarsut Airport. 13 civil airports and 47 helipads in Greenland are operated by the state-owned enterprise Greenland Airport Authority.

Aerodromes

The following 14 airports are listed under AD 2 AERODROMES at Naviair.
Location servedMunicipalityICAOIATAAirport nameReference
Aasiaat QeqertalikBGAAJEGAasiaat Airport
Ilulissat AvannaataBGJNJAVIlulissat Airport
Ittoqqortoormiit SermersooqBGCOCNPNerlerit Inaat Airport
Kangerlussuaq QeqqataBGSFSFJKangerlussuaq Airport
KulusukSermersooqBGKKKUSKulusuk Airport
Maniitsoq QeqqataBGMQJSUManiitsoq Airport
NarsarsuaqKujalleqBGBWUAKNarsarsuaq Airport
Nuuk SermersooqBGGHGOHNuuk Airport
Paamiut SermersooqBGPTJFRPaamiut Airport
PituffikThuleBGTLTHUThule Air Base
QaanaaqAvannaataBGQQNAQQaanaaq Airport
Qaarsut / UummannaqAvannaataBGUQJQAQaarsut Airport
Sisimiut QeqqataBGSSJHSSisimiut Airport
UpernavikAvannaataBGUKJUVUpernavik Airport

The following aerodromes also exist. They have no scheduled flights.
Location servedMunicipalityICAOIATAAirport name
DaneborgNortheast Greenland National ParkBGDBDaneborg Airport
DanmarkshavnNortheast Greenland National ParkBGDHDanmarkshavn Airport
Station NordNortheast Greenland National ParkBGNONord Station
EastGRIPNortheast Greenland National ParkEastGRIP
Summit CampNortheast Greenland National ParkSummit Station
MestersvigNortheast Greenland National ParkBGMVMestersvig Airport

Not included are the former United States Army Air Forces bases of Bluie East Two and Marrak Point.

Heliports

The following 47 heliports are listed under AD 4 HELIPORTS at Naviair.
Location servedMunicipalityICAOIATAAirport nameReference
AappilattoqKujalleqBGAQQUVAappilattoq Heliport
AappilattoqAvannaataBGAGAOQAappilattoq Heliport
AkunnaaqQeqertalikBGAKAkunnaaq Heliport
Alluitsup Paa KujalleqBGAPLLUAlluitsup Paa Heliport
Ammassivik KujalleqBGASQUWAmmassivik Heliport
ArsukSermersooqBGARJRKArsuk Heliport
AttuQeqertalikBGATAttu Heliport
EqalugaarsuitKujalleqBGETQFGEqalugaarsuit Heliport
IginniarfikQeqertalikBGIGIginniarfik Heliport
IkamiutQeqertalikBGITIkamiut Heliport
IkerasaarsukQeqertalikBGIKIkerasaarsuk Heliport
IkerasakAvannaataBGIAIkerasak Heliport
Ilimanaq AvannaataBGILIlimanaq Heliport
IllorsuitAvannaataBGLLIOTIllorsuit Heliport
InnaarsuitAvannaataBGINIUIInnaarsuit Heliport
IsertoqSermersooqBGISIsortoq Heliport
Ittoqqortoormiit SermersooqBGSCOBYIttoqqortoormiit Heliport
KangaatsiaqQeqertalikBGKAKangaatsiaq Heliport
Kangersuatsiaq AvannaataBGKSKGQKangersuatsiaq Heliport
Kitsissuarsuit QeqertalikBGKTKitsissuarsuit Heliport
KullorsuaqAvannaataBGKQKHQKullorsuaq Heliport
KuummiitSermersooqBGKMKuummiit Heliport
Nalunaq KujalleqBGNLNalunaq Heliport
NanortalikKujalleqBGNNJNNNanortalik Heliport
NarsaqKujalleqBGNSJNSNarsaq Heliport
Narsaq Kujalleq KujalleqBGFDQFNNarsaq Kujalleq Heliport
NiaqornaarsukQeqertalikBGNKNiaqornaarsuk Heliport
NiaqornatAvannaataBGNTNIQNiaqornat Heliport
NuugaatsiaqAvannaataBGNQJUUNuugaatsiaq Heliport
Nuussuaq AvannaataBGNUNSQNuussuaq Heliport
Qaqortoq KujalleqBGJHJJUQaqortoq Heliport
Qasigiannguit QeqertalikBGCHJCHQasigiannguit Heliport
QassimiutKujalleqBGQTQJHQassimiut Heliport
QeqertaqAvannaataBGQEQeqertaq Heliport
Qeqertarsuaq QeqertalikBGGNJGOQeqertarsuaq Heliport
SaattutAvannaataBGSTSAESaattut Heliport
Saqqaq AvannaataBGSQSaqqaq Heliport
SavissivikQaasuitsupBGSVSVRSavissivik Heliport
SermiligaaqSermersooqBGSGSermiligaaq Heliport
SiorapalukQaasuitsupBGSISRKSiorapaluk Heliport
TasiilaqSermersooqBGAMAGMTasiilaq Heliport
TasiusaqKujalleq BGTQTasiusaq Heliport
TasiusaqQaasuitsup BGTATQATasiusaq Heliport
TiilerilaaqSermersooqBGTNTQITiniteqilaaq Heliport
UkkusissatQaasuitsupBGUTJUKUkkusissat Heliport
Upernavik Kujalleq QaasuitsupBGKLUpernavik Kujalleq Heliport
UummannaqQaasuitsupBGUMUMDUummannaq Heliport

The following four heliports are not listed by Naviair.
Location servedMunicipalityICAOIATAAirport nameReference
IgalikuKujalleqBGIOQFXIgaliku Heliport
Kangilinnguit SermersooqBGGDJGRKangilinnguit Heliport
MoriusaqQaasuitsupBGMOMoriusaq Heliport
SaarloqKujalleqBGSOQOQSaarloq Heliport

Statistics

only publishes statistics summarized for Atlantic airports and for other airports. 13 airports are included, not Thule air base.
201320152017
Atlantic airports, passengers159,432166,688173,523
Other airports, passengers193,812198,921200,075
Heliports, passengers44,61241,67539,789
Atlantic airports, takeoffs7,9888,2867,653
Other airports, takeoffs15,06916,00716,958
Heliports, takeoffs10,64611,2899,533

Future

At a late 2011 Air Greenland meeting, plans to move the main Greenland intercontinental air hub away from Kangerlussuaq were agreed upon. From 2011 it has not been possible to buy new aircraft, except for very small ones, which can use the airstrips which are common in Greenland including Nuuk Airport. So something needs to be done before the fleet of Bombardier Dash 8 Q200 is retired in future.
A decision was made in 2016 to extend the runways of both Nuuk airport and Ilulissat airport to, allowing them to receive medium size jetliners from Denmark. Also to replace Narsarsuaq with a new airport at Qaqortoq. Construction start of Nuuk was late 2019.
Alongside Kangerlussuaq, if airports at Qaqortoq, Tasiilaq and Ittoqqortoormiit are built, the airports at Narsarsuaq, Kulusuk and Nerlerit Inaat will also be closed. The remaining airports in Greenland will keep their short size and smaller aircraft be used for them.