Ice Happens: Why You Should Expect a U-Turn When Flying To Greenland’s Nuuk Airport in Winter

2024 was an important year for commercial aviation in Greenland, culminating in the opening of the substantially renovated and expanded Nuuk Airport (GOH) in the territory’s southwest.

The facility was converted from a provincial airport capable of handling light aircraft to one that can serve large widebody planes, providing better access to the territory’s west coast than the former hub at Kangerlussuaq.

The newly restored airport in Nuuk has been active for more than two months, and while it has already played an important part in improving Greenland’s aerial connection, it has also had its fair share of obstacles. This was notably noticeable in the first week of 2025, when three Nuuk-bound planes turned around and returned to Europe. But why is that?

Air Greenland and its Airbus A330-800

The reopening of Nuuk Airport primarily benefits native carrier Air Greenland and its single Airbus A330-800. Air Greenland got their exemplar (OY-GKN) of the next-generation widebody twinjet, the smallest and rarest variant of the modern A330neo family, in November 2022, according to current fleet data provided by ch-aviation.

As shown above, this red-liveried widebody is the flagship of Air Greenland’s current fleet, and it is predominantly used on the route between Nuuk and Kastrup Airport (CPH), which serves the Danish capital of Copenhagen.

According to Visit Greenland, this aircraft, named Tuukkaq, will operate this route five times per week in the first half of 2025, with the following schedule:

• Monday and Friday: GL779 (CPH 08:20 – GOH 10:10); GL780 (GOH 12:10 – CPH 19:30).
• Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday: GL781 (CPH 10:35 – GOH 12:45), GL782 (GOH 14:30 – CPH 22:00).

During the summer peak, this frequency will increase to nine flights per week, with daily round trips and a second evening/overnight rotation on Mondays and Friday.

The new airport in Greenland was reopened with much enthusiasm in October 2024, signaling a significant boost to the country’s commercial aviation sector.

Simple Flying had the opportunity to participate in the inaugural flight from Copenhagen to Nuuk’s newly expanded 2,200-meter runway 04/22, which can be read about here.

Air Greenland’s single Airbus A330-800 has 305 seats, which include 263 eight-abreast economy class seats and 42 seven-abreast business class recliners.

A slow start for 2025

Unfortunately, the early promise of the newly rebuilt Nuuk Airport and its widebody services from Copenhagen has been overshadowed by a series of diversions in early 2025.

Flightradar24 data shows that OY-GKN had to detour three times in the first week of the new year (January 2nd, 3rd, and 6th) while flying to Nuuk.

The first of these events occurred when it flew almost all the way to Nuuk on flight GL781 before turning around and returning to Copenhagen, resulting in a frustrating ‘flight to nowhere’ that lasted eight and a half hours.

Despite this, the aircraft set off for Nuuk the next day on Air Greenland flight GL779, but unfortunately did not arrive.

The airplane was diverted to Iceland’s Reykjavík Keflavík Airport (KEF), as shown in the image below. Unlike the previous day’s flight, which returned directly to Copenhagen, the decision to divert appears to have been decided after circling above central Greenland. The airplane subsequently continued to Copenhagen, where it landed at 19:31 local time, about 11 hours after taking off.

On January 4th and 5th, OY-GKN flew from Copenhagen to Nuuk as anticipated, albeit with delays in each case, before facing new problems on January 6th.

That day, it diverted back to Iceland, despite the circling had taken place far closer to Nuuk than the previous time. On January 7th, Air Greenland decided to fly OY-GKN to Kangerlussuaq instead.

The reasons for the detours

Naturally, these diversions would have been a frustrating experience for the passengers on these planes, causing significant delays in their itineraries.

With this in mind, and given the frequency with which these operational mishaps occur, it begs the issue of what is causing them and whether anything can be done to mitigate the situation. In the end, it comes down to the weather.

As reported by One Mile At A Time, OY-GKN diverted aircraft to Nuuk due to severe weather, and other services at Greenland’s restored airport were also canceled.

According to Holiday Weather, the average January temperature in Nuuk is -8 C / 18 F, with temperatures only above freezing from May to September.

Snow and ice are a very real risk in such conditions, which might lead to operational difficulties when flying. Greenland is not alone in experiencing operating disruptions owing to winter weather, as countries like Germany, the UK, and the US have also had similar challenges. However, in Greenland, there are additional variables.

Indeed, while Greenland is no stranger to harsh winter weather, it can be difficult to minimize since, as One Mile At A Time points out, winter conditions in the area can be exceedingly unpredictable.

When this is combined with Greenland’s limited number of alternative airports to which an aircraft as large as the Airbus A330-800 can divert, Iceland or Denmark appear as the best choices.

Trying something different.

As previously stated, Air Greenland chose to fly OY-GKN to Kangerlussuaq rather than Nuuk on January 7th. The carrier told One Mile At A Time that this is usually a last resort. However, given the previous days’ diversion troubles, it’s natural that the airline sought to move its passengers somewhere in Greenland. The carrier’s website states that:

“The flight returned to Copenhagen because the runway in Nuuk was still too slippery for flights to land on Monday, January 6th.

The impacted delayed passengers were rebooked for Tuesday and Wednesday of that week; however, Air Greenland would like to stress out that it is not feasible to be rebooked to an earlier departure than the one you were sent.”

However, the option of flying as far as Kangerlussuaq with the A330-800 became available because Nuuk’s “slippery runway can still be used by Dash-8 aircraft, as this type does not need as much runway length to land.”

Air Greenland later said that its Copenhagen-Nuuk route on January 7th will “land in Kangerlussuaq, from where we fly our passengers to and from our domestic destinations.”

At the time of writing, this special undertaking was only scheduled for January 7th, with no indication of the airline’s future plans for the A330-800 (other than returning it from Kangerlussuaq to Copenhagen).

The carrier’s employment of small Dash 8 turboprops in its red-liveried aircraft demonstrates resilience and usefulness, since all domestic flights will proceed as planned.

More airlines and routes are coming.

The year will also witness increased growth in Air Greenland’s operations from Nuuk to continental Denmark. Indeed, the carrier will launch a seasonal route to Billund (BLL) in March before expanding to flights from Nuuk to Aalborg (AAL) in June 2025.

With these operating during the warmer months, there should be less instances of such services being diverted due to weather.

Just before Nuuk Airport reopened, Scandinavian Airlines announced plans to serve the airport from Copenhagen on a seasonal basis beginning in June 2025, similar to Air Greenland’s Aalborg route.

SAS will fly to Greenland for the first time in two decades, with three trips per week during the summer, according to Simple Flying.

United Airlines made headlines by selling flights to Nuuk from its hub at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR). Airseven will offer charter flights from Aalborg to Nuuk starting in June, with a twice-weekly schedule using the Boeing 737 MAX 8. In the meantime, winter visitors should be aware of potential distractions.

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