Rant Alert - Excerpts from My Reddit Post About 2026 Aviation Decisions in Greenland YTD
If you’re in the mood for some snarky comedy and hearing me go off the rails this afternoon, I have a treat for you!
I have decided to start populating this blog for people that do not use Reddit. I’m unable to express these views on Facebook at this time so I let loose on my social media of choice (and my niche).
Here is a bonafide rant inspired by an article in today’s newspaper. I am not shy about expressing my views on the airport system failures in Greenland. It affects every citizen and travelers. The subject matter of the subreddit is travel after all. It’s likely that I am the most vocal critic outside the kingdom of Denmark and definitely in English. All of these posts blow up in terms of views and get indexed in google unfortunately. That’s not the intent. I like to warn travelers of the danger. It’s not polar bears to worry about. Or freezing in the ocean. It’s Greenland Airports and Nuuk Airport in particular that is the greatest threat to your health, well being, and blood pressure. Original post is here. Long rant comment posted below as well.
If you didn't see my post from a couple days ago about the accounting errors, have a look in the sub. There were additional irregularities as well. It never ends with my favorite company Greenland.
As theorized on here recently, I am probably public enemy number one for the company since I slam them on Reddit in English every few months. Someone has to do the dirty work. But they hit back at me by confiscating rocks I bought with documentation. Well played. They got me. The score is even.
I am gobsmacked right now while reading the Greenland news this morning. After 4 years delay, the airport that is supposed to be a lifeline will only be operating a CPH-JAV flight ONCE A WEEK in winter. One per week. That's like Reykjavik. What's the point?
Then it scales up to 6x per week by summer in theory. Maybe...
It needs to be daily. And it is expensive too. I used to get a fly n sleep fare via SFJ from CPH-JAV for 1800 DKK one way. The minimum is 3600 DKK now. What on earth is going on? How can greenland make more money from tourism in the off season if the new airport is doing a once weekly flight to CPH. Poor, poor planning and execution strikes again. And this is an assumption if the airport is functioning and the runway doesn't freeze and such.
February is a good time to do winter activities in Ilulissat. But the more frequent flights aren't until 1 March.
I am very disappointed by this. Insanity. We are supposed to make Greenland easier to access. This is awful.
Rant over. Damn, just when I thought it couldn't get worse.
Here is the text from the article today in Sermitsiaq.
"It is currently possible to buy a return ticket Ilulissat – Copenhagen on Air Greenland's website for 7,145 kroner for the cheapest Takuss ticket, but that price should be taken with caution because Air Greenland works with so-called dynamic prices. This means that the price reflects the demand for the specific departure. The greater the demand, the higher the price.
During the period around Christmas and New Year, Air Greenland is increasing its weekly flights with an additional flight on Mondays. From March 1, the program will increase to three weekly flights, and over the summer there will be up to six weekly direct flights between Copenhagen and Ilulissat."
***Comment 1:***
It's because everything is devoted to Nuuk at the end of the day. They also believe that they need to slowly roll into this unlike the abrupt disaster at Nuuk. Which is still ongoing, btw. They think it's wise. Wise is choosing a day of the week that makes sense. Or after the enormous drain on public finances, let the bleed continue and invest in the route. Don't drip drop random flights that will probably get cancelled anyway.
They're likely prioritizing Nuuk once again for business travelers and tourists. Delusions about Nuuk being attractive as a tourist destination. It has quarter of a day's worth of things to do in my book. And that's mostly the museum and that's about it.
You need to give the airport staff and Air GL staff experience. So yeah, operating in the winter could be a good training ground to get processes right and get people used to the new system and with the added upside of some tourism. Visiting in winter is cheaper and sometimes easier actually. I see a lot of benefits to the Uummannaqs and Qeqertarsuaqs of Greenland once we get reliable flights.
While I'm at it, I'm just gonna continue to rant. I think it was a terrible decision and tone deaf to buy HHE Hotel Group. Air GL cannot turn a profit at Hotel Arctic. It's a tough business and the unreliable flights have to be managed better before you can even think about hotels. Air GL should have spent that money on more AIRCRAFT as they are an airline after all. So yeah, I love Air GL. I do. But that was short-sighted and yet another example of prioritizing Nuuk over the rest of the country. The Dash 8 domestic fleet is 6 aircraft for a territory 3x the size of Texas. Two are not normally in commission or chartered. 6 aircraft that seat between 29 and 39 people. That's it. And we now have 3 brand new airports and no increase in the fleet yet. Just ghetto Jet Time charters from CPH.
This got out of hand but it needs to be said.
There is no excuse for things to be as catastrophic in Ilulissat. We all knew Nuuk was less reliable than Kangerlussuaq. Science doesn't lie. The weather is stable in SFJ and deep inside many fjords in GL. So all the missteps are not only on leadership at GL Airports but also with the respective governments involved including, notably, Denmark as well. It has been a huge failure all around and will likely be in business school case studies for decades. Masterclass in what NOT to do.
Good riddance. Do better!