Greenland is a place like no other. We have no doubt you’ll be in awe of what you'll see and experience there, and we always look forward to flying passengers to this most epic destination.
Travel to Greenland brings big adventure: in nature, weather, and other elements. It might also bring some challenges. We want to share some of our local expertise to help make your Greenland travel experience smoother.
Travelers are drawn to Greenland to experience its incredible landscapes and remote location. The raw nature and remoteness also play a part in making travel to or within Greenland challenging at times, and the country has limited infrastructure.
All airlines face the same regulations and challenges operating in and out of Greenland. We're an airline that knows and understands conditions (and weather!) in this part of the world. We do everything in our power to ensure your travel to and from Greenland is smooth.
We hope you understand that there can be unavoidable disruptions to Greenland travel. We won’t compromise on safety. Flexibility on our part is sometimes needed, and we may share that need for flexibility with you. We don’t do it lightly.
Due to the unpredictability of travel disruptions, we’d recommend adopting a flexible approach to your Greenland travel planning.
That might mean adding a buffer of a day (or more) on either side of your travels, to avoid stress if there are delays.
Some examples of this:
Before you travel to Greenland, it’s important to check that you’ve provided us with up-to-date contact details (especially email and cellphone number). This is to ensure we can contact you in the event of any flight changes.
You can check this information and update it under Manage booking.
In the event of a flight delay or cancellation, we’ll get in touch with you via email or phone and give you as much notice as possible. We'll explain what happens next, and provide information on what services we can assist with. To learn more about our delay and cancellation policies or to get in touch with a member of our team, please visit our customer support hub.
Discover more Greenland travel advice and helpful information below:
Greenland is enormous. But its population is small (just 56,500). Its airports are small too, even in the most-visited areas like the capital city Nuuk, and the Unesco-recognized region of Ilulissat.
The Greenland airports we serve are mainly small, with short runways only capable of handling smaller aircraft such as our De Havilland Canada (DHC) Dash 400 and 200 (with 76 and 37 seats, respectively). We also use the Dash aircraft on our domestic Iceland routes.
Only one of the airports we serve has a runway capable of handling our Boeing aircraft. We fly a weekly service in July and August between Iceland and Narsarsuaq (UAK), using our Boeing MAX 8 (with a capacity of 160 seats).
Icelandair passengers traveling to Greenland can book flights to 4 airports across the country. Some of our routes are seasonally dependent, however.
We fly directly from Keflavík to Nuuk and Kulusuk year-round, and to Ilulissat and Narsarsuaq in summer (with additional winter flights to Ilulissat). Icelandair may occasionally use Kangerlussuaq* as a refueling stop.
The runways at Nuuk and Ilulissat are currently undergoing enlargement and a redevelopment of airport terminals too.
The new airport at Nuuk will open on 28 November 2024, and become the main hub for Greenland flights.
New facilities at Ilulissat are expected to open in late 2026. At the same time, a new airport is scheduled to open at Qaqortoq in south Greenland, and this will replace Narsarsuaq airport.
Flight schedules to and from Greenland will no doubt look considerably different after these changes, and the aircraft serving these new airports will likely be larger.
Some locations in Greenland have Danish names in addition to their Greenlandic names. This means that some airport codes reflect the Danish names, which is useful to bear in mind when traveling to Greenland.
While traveling to, from or within Greenland, you may hear of Kangerlussuaq airport (SFJ). Until the opening of the enlarged Nuuk airport, this is one of the few airports in Greenland large enough to support long-range aircraft.
Kangerlussuaq airport is the international hub for Air Greenland – the airline flies from Copenhagen to Kangerlussuaq in larger aircraft, and passengers change there for smaller aircraft to other Greenlandic destinations.
When the enlarged airport at Nuuk's is open and functioning, flights to Kangerlussuaq airport will be scaled back and Nuuk (GOH) will be the country's main air hub.
Icelandair doesn’t operate scheduled flights to Kangerlussuaq. We may use it as a refueling stop, if necessary.
For safety reasons, there must always be a diversion airport open and operating when we're flying to Greenland.
If the diversion airport isn't open or is experiencing bad conditions, the flight could be delayed – even though the conditions at the destination might be good.
Our flights to Nuuk, for example, may be delayed if weather is affecting Kulusuk airport on Greenland’s east coast.
Greenland is enormous. But its population is small (just 56,500). Its airports are small too, even in the most-visited areas like the capital city Nuuk, and the Unesco-recognized region of Ilulissat.
The Greenland airports we serve are mainly small, with short runways only capable of handling smaller aircraft such as our De Havilland Canada (DHC) Dash 400 and 200 (with 76 and 37 seats, respectively). We also use the Dash aircraft on our domestic Iceland routes.
Only one of the airports we serve has a runway capable of handling our Boeing aircraft. We fly a weekly service in July and August between Iceland and Narsarsuaq (UAK), using our Boeing MAX 8 (with a capacity of 160 seats).
,Icelandair passengers traveling to Greenland can book flights to 4 airports across the country. Some of our routes are seasonally dependent, however.
We fly directly from Keflavík to Nuuk and Kulusuk year-round, and to Ilulissat and Narsarsuaq in summer (with additional winter flights to Ilulissat). Icelandair may occasionally use Kangerlussuaq* as a refueling stop.
,The runways at Nuuk and Ilulissat are currently undergoing enlargement and a redevelopment of airport terminals too.
The new airport at Nuuk will open on 28 November 2024, and become the main hub for Greenland flights.
New facilities at Ilulissat are expected to open in late 2026. At the same time, a new airport is scheduled to open at Qaqortoq in south Greenland, and this will replace Narsarsuaq airport.
Flight schedules to and from Greenland will no doubt look considerably different after these changes, and the aircraft serving these new airports will likely be larger.
Some locations in Greenland have Danish names in addition to their Greenlandic names. This means that some airport codes reflect the Danish names, which is useful to bear in mind when traveling to Greenland.
While traveling to, from or within Greenland, you may hear of Kangerlussuaq airport (SFJ). Until the opening of the enlarged Nuuk airport, this is one of the few airports in Greenland large enough to support long-range aircraft.
Kangerlussuaq airport is the international hub for Air Greenland – the airline flies from Copenhagen to Kangerlussuaq in larger aircraft, and passengers change there for smaller aircraft to other Greenlandic destinations.
When the enlarged airport at Nuuk's is open and functioning, flights to Kangerlussuaq airport will be scaled back and Nuuk (GOH) will be the country's main air hub.
Icelandair doesn’t operate scheduled flights to Kangerlussuaq. We may use it as a refueling stop, if necessary.
For safety reasons, there must always be a diversion airport open and operating when we're flying to Greenland.
If the diversion airport isn't open or is experiencing bad conditions, the flight could be delayed – even though the conditions at the destination might be good.
Our flights to Nuuk, for example, may be delayed if weather is affecting Kulusuk airport on Greenland’s east coast.
,As we use the smaller Dash aircraft for most of our flights to Greenland, you’ll notice that we don’t offer all our regular international services.
There is no Wi-Fi on board, and no in-flight entertainment on the Dash.
We do serve a limited food and drink menu. You're welcome to bring your own food on board.
Travel tip: Greenland airports are small, with limited facilities (most are without Wi-Fi, and limited or no food and drink is available). We recommend you take snacks and a water bottle when you head to a Greenland airport. This is especially handy if there are flight delays and nowhere at the airport to buy food.
,Due to the aircraft being smaller, the weight limit for both checked and carry-on baggage on our Greenland flights is a little less than on our international flights.
Travel tip: We strongly advise you to pack valuables and essentials in your carry-on bag – medication, for example.
Weather plays an important part in what weight our aircraft can carry.
In adverse conditions there may be weight restrictions and we may need to reduce weight for safety reasons. On rare occasions we must offload some bags and send them on the next available flight.
,Travelers might think that visiting Greenland will be like visiting Denmark in terms of roaming, data availability, and pricing, but this isn’t the case. Europeans can’t ‘roam like home’ in Greenland.
Roaming in Greenland – that is, accessing the Greenland system using your home account – is expensive.
Most Greenland accommodation offers Wi-Fi, but it may be patchy. Sometimes you'll require easy connectivity when you're out and about during the day.
Travel tip: We recommend you purchase an eSIM that covers Greenland or a travel SIM for the local network. It will make life much easier (and cheaper) if you can tap into the local network for data usage and to make and receive calls.