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.
See also: Air Greenland. 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 now-abandoned USAAF airfields Bluie East Two and Marrak Point, both in 1942) and Pituffik Space Base in 1953 (although Pituffik is not operated as a civilian airport) 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.
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 (not Pituffik Space Base) and 47 helipads in Greenland are operated by the state-owned enterprise Greenland Airport Authority (Mittarfeqarfiit).
The following 14 airports are listed under AD 2 AERODROMES at Naviair.[1]
| Location served | Municipality | ICAO | IATA | Airport name | Reference | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aasiaat (Egedesminde) | Qeqertalik | BGAA | JEG | Aasiaat Airport | ||
| Ilulissat (Jakobshavn) | Avannaata | BGJN | JAV | Ilulissat Airport | ||
| Ittoqqortoormiit (Scoresbysund) | Sermersooq | BGCO | CNP | Nerlerit Inaat Airport (Constable Pynt Airport) | ||
| Kangerlussuaq (Søndre Strømfjord) | Qeqqata | BGSF | SFJ | Kangerlussuaq Airport (Sondrestrom Air Base) | ||
| Kulusuk | Sermersooq | BGKK | KUS | Kulusuk Airport | ||
| Maniitsoq (Sukkertoppen) | Qeqqata | BGMQ | JSU | Maniitsoq Airport | ||
| Narsarsuaq | Kujalleq | BGBW | UAK | Narsarsuaq Airport (Narsarsuaq Air Base) | ||
| Nuuk (Godthåb) | Sermersooq | BGGH | GOH | Nuuk Airport | ||
| Paamiut (Frederikshåb) | Sermersooq | BGPT | JFR | Paamiut Airport | ||
| Pituffik | Thule | BGTL | THU | Pituffik Space Base | [2] | |
| Qaanaaq | Avannaata | BGQQ | NAQ | Qaanaaq Airport | ||
| Qaarsut / Uummannaq | Avannaata | BGUQ | JQA | Qaarsut Airport (Uummannaq Airport) | ||
| Sisimiut (Holsteinsborg) | Qeqqata | BGSS | JHS | Sisimiut Airport | ||
| Upernavik | Avannaata | BGUK | JUV | Upernavik Airport |
The following aerodromes also exist. They have no scheduled flights.
| Location served | Municipality | ICAO | IATA | Airport name | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northeast Greenland National Park | BGDB | Daneborg Airport | ||||
| Northeast Greenland National Park | BGDH | Danmarkshavn Airport | ||||
| Northeast Greenland National Park | BGNO | Nord Station | ||||
| EastGRIP | Northeast Greenland National Park | EastGRIP | ||||
| Summit Camp | Northeast Greenland National Park | Summit Station | ||||
| Northeast Greenland National Park | BGMV | Mestersvig Airport |
Not included and not open for flights anymore are the former United States Army Air Forces bases of Bluie East Two and Marrak Point.
The following 47 heliports are listed under AD 4 HELIPORTS at Naviair.[3]
The following four heliports are not listed by Naviair.
| Location served | Municipality | ICAO | IATA | Airport name | Reference | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Igaliku | Kujalleq | BGIO | QFX | Igaliku Heliport | [4] | |
| Kangilinnguit (Grønnedal) | Sermersooq | BGGD | JGR | Kangilinnguit Heliport | ||
| Moriusaq | Avannaata | BGMO | Moriusaq Heliport | |||
| Saarloq | Kujalleq | BGSO | Saarloq Heliport (non-IATA identifier: QOQ) | [5] |
Mittarfeqarfiit only publishes statistics summarized for Atlantic airports (Kangerlussuaq and Narsarsuaq) and for other airports (11 airports). 13 airports are included, not Pituffik Space Base.[6]
| 2013 | 2015 | 2017 | 2019 | ||
| Atlantic airports, passengers | 159,432 | 166,688 | 173,523 | 197,038 | |
| Other airports, passengers | 193,812 | 198,921 | 200,075 | 217,173 | |
| Heliports, passengers | 44,612 | 41,675 | 39,789 | 28,790 | |
| Atlantic airports, takeoffs | 7,988 | 8,286 | 7,653 | 8,209 | |
| Other airports, takeoffs | 15,069 | 16,007 | 16,958 | 15,691 | |
| Heliports, takeoffs | 10,646 | 11,289 | 9,533 | 7,623 |
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 800m-900mm (2,600feet-3,000feetm) 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 (before 2030).
A decision was made in 2016 to extend the runways of both Nuuk airport and Ilulissat airport to 2200m (7,200feet), allowing them to receive medium size jetliners from Denmark.[7] [8] Also to replace Narsarsuaq with a new airport at Qaqortoq.[9] Construction start of Nuuk was late 2019.[10]
Alongside Kangerlussuaq, if airports at Qaqortoq, Tasiilaq and Ittoqqortoormiit are built, the airports at Narsarsuaq, Kulusuk and Nerlerit Inaat will also be closed.[11] The remaining airports in Greenland will keep their short size and smaller aircraft be used for them.