Will Greenland’s new airport help its economy take off?

This story was produced by our colleagues at the BBC.

A new international airport in Greenland’s capital Nuuk will allow larger aircraft to land for the first time, paving the way for direct flights from the U.S. and Europe. It’s the first of three airport projects that officials hope will boost the local economy, by making the Arctic territory more accessible than ever before.

Covered by an ice cap and sparsely populated, Greenland is a vast autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark. Its capital, Nuuk, on the southwestern coast is a small town of 18,000 residents. Modern apartment blocks and colorful wooden cottages look out over a wide sea fjord.

From the end of November, large planes will be able to land at Nuuk for the first time, thanks to a new, longer runway and a sleek new terminal building.

“I think it will be a big impact,” said Jens Lauridsen, the chief executive of Greenland Airports. “I’m sure we will see a lot of tourism, and we’ll see a lot of change.”

Direct flights to Nuuk will operate from Copenhagen, and next summer United Airlines will begin flying from New York. In 2026, a second international airport will open in Greenland’s most popular tourist destination, the town of Ilulissat, 350 miles north of Nuuk. Ilulissat is renowned for the huge icebergs that float just off its coastline. A new regional airport, in Qaqortoq, the biggest town in the south of Greenland, will then follow.

Jacob Nitter Sørensen, chief executive officer of national carrier Air Greenland, said the new international airport is “going to be a big game changer for us.” “It’s going to shorten the travel time, and it’s going to decrease the cost of producing the flight.”

To make way for Nuuk International Airport’s longer runway, six million cubic metres of rock were blasted and levelled. The airport is also now equipped with advanced technology that allows planes to land in the town’s notoriously bad weather.

The three airports are, together, costing more than $800 million. This has been partly financed by the Danish, who stepped in with a sweetened loan package after interest from Chinese investors.

“There were concerns about whether this type of investments should be in Chinese hands,” said Javier Arnaut, head of Arctic social science at Greenland University. “Denmark offered more affordable and attractive rates for these loans.”

Initially there was public skepticism over costs and the environmental impact, said Arnaut, but now there’s mostly support. Not everyone welcomes the noisy airplanes, however.

“With big infrastructure, it always divides people,” said Nuuk resident Karen Motzfeldt. “There is always a group who is against, and always a group who loves it. So it’s the same in Nuuk.”

“This is an airport for a modern Greenland,” she added. “l look forward to having a shorter route for Copenhagen, Iceland, or maybe London Heathrow, who knows?”

Greenland’s economy is largely dependent on the public sector and fishing, and most goods have to be imported, but there are efforts to diversify. Politicians hope this new infrastructure will be a shot in the arm for sectors like mining and tourism.

With larger cargo planes soon to be able to land in Nuuk, more goods can come in and exports can more easily go out.

Inside a harborside factory in the capital, a huge catch of prawns is being steamed, shelled and frozen. For its owner Polar Seafoods, which sells shrimps, crab and halibut, shorter and direct flights mean new business possibilities.

“We’re looking into doing more fresh seafood,” said chairman Michael Binzer. “It will cut down the transportation by maybe a full day, which is a lot.”

Currently their products are exported in frozen form by container ship, destined for markets like China, Scandinavia and the U.K. But the company has been trialing airfreight ahead of the new airport opening.

However, it’s tourism that will be the big winner. Foreign visitors came to Greenland in record numbers last year, rising 36.5% from 2022, to more than 140,000. That’s still modest, but with more flight options it’s projected to grow.

“We are already in a tourist boom, and feeling how tourism can affect smaller places in a good way, but also negatively,” said business minister Naaja Nathanielsen, who’s overseeing a new tourism law that will be introduced this autumn.

“We really want to try to welcome the tourists in the bigger cities, but we also want to spread them out more,” she said.

Nathanielsen said the new airports will have a “profound” impact on the local society. “I sense that it’s going to really change the map of Greenland,” she said. “This will bring a lot of good, but also some changes we’ll probably need to adjust to.”