Greenland’s new international airport opens in the capital of Nuuk on November 28, making the Arctic island more accessible than ever. But for the people of Greenland, it’s about more than adding global flight routes—it’s a signal that their historically isolated home is now officially open for tourism.
It’s a major shift for the world’s least densely populated nation, 80% of which is covered by one of Earth’s two remaining ice sheets. The autonomous Danish territory, called “Kalaallit Nunaat” in Greenlandic, is home to around 56,000 people—around the same population as Bozeman, Montana.
Following 40-plus years of planning and debates, Greenland has invested DKK5 billion ($720 million USD) into building three new international airports that will expand on or replace existing terminals, whose runways are too short to handle large passenger planes. This November, the first one opens in Nuuk. An additional two airports, located in Ilulissat (the country’s ‘tourism capital’ in western Greenland), and Qaqortoq in South Greenland, are slated to open by the end of 2026.
Travel in Greenland has always been logistically taxing: the country has just 56 miles of paved roads across its entire 830,000 square miles and no drivable routes exist at all between settlements and towns, meaning transport is primarily by boat, plane, or helicopter. The new airport in Nuuk puts the capital city at the heart of transit links in the country; previously, international travelers had to fly into Kangerlussuaq, an old US air base located in the center of the west coast, and then transfer to a smaller plane for any onward travel.
Linking the top of the world
The newly constructed Nuuk airport has already resulted in airlines adding flight routes to and from Greenland. The first was inaugurated this summer: a direct Air Greenland flight from Nuuk to Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut in Arctic Canada—linking two of the Arctic region’s Inuit communities who otherwise had to take a 36-hour flight via Europe. The seasonal route has been renewed for 2025 and is expected to run from June to October.
In major news for American travelers, United Airlines recently announced that it will be launching twice-weekly service between Newark, New Jersey and Nuuk starting on June 14—making it the only carrier to fly direct between the US and Greenland. The nonstop flight will be shortly over four hours long.
Starting June 27, Denmark’s flag carrier SAS will offer direct flights between Copenhagen and Nuuk during the peak summer season.
The new airports will continue to run existing routes from Air Greenland and Icelandair to Copenhagen and Reykjavik, Iceland, with extended runways allowing for larger international planes, including Air Greenland’s newest fleet addition, an A330neo. Taking lessons from its neighbor Iceland, Greenland is being talked about as a possible hub for transatlantic stopovers en route to Europe, working off Icelandair's existing North American routes.
Responsible tourism in focus
As the tourism industry continues to develop in Greenland, local people and the government are mindful about the need to preserve the island’s pristine nature and unique ways of life, while also increasing connections with the outside world.
“The new flights open up both opportunities and challenges–but we’re excited about them,” says local guide Danny Mølgaard of Disko Adventures. “There is the potential to make Greenland a year-round destination, not just focused on the summer high season, which could encourage visitors to explore surrounding towns and settlements and distribute tourism more evenly.”
Greenland’s government is currently considering laws to help protect wildlife and ensure that both locals and visitors benefit from the tourism boom, including a bill that would require all operators to be 50% local-owned and add a small per-night tourism tax, with proceeds going to support future tourism development and natural protections.
In anticipation of the airport openings, new tourism businesses and initiatives have steadily launched over the past few years. Disko Adventures, for example, is adding more guides and tours, such as dog sledding in the summer, and a range of kayak tours along Disko Island’s basalt column shores. The next few years are also expected to see a slew of new hotels to Nuuk and beyond.
Idrissia Thestrup, owner of Lost Horizon, a bespoke tour operator specializing in trips to Greenland, says the new airport has put Greenland on the map for adventure-minded travelers. “For my clients, that includes the aurora safari that takes guests on a night-time tour of Nuuk fjord, where it’s only you, the Milky Way and the Northern Lights,” she says.
Dark sky tourism is expected to attract stargazers to Nuuk, with the fjord outside the city awaiting an official dark sky certification. Other upcoming experiences in the Nuuk area include glamping sites in remote spots accessible by boat from Nuuk, such as Camp Kangiusaq, and Inuk Hostels’ Aurora Huts, tiny glass huts on Nuuk Fjord with perfect views of the Northern Lights. Soon to launch are polar bear spotting adventures with Greenland Cruises, the only firm in Nuuk authorized to run such trips, and a yoga retreat from by Selmer Travel, offering a yoga camp in Greenland’s pristine nature under the midnight sun.
