The Swedish Transport Agency relaxes restrictions at Nuuk Airport

In December, Greenland Airports made an attempt to have Nuuk Airport's current restrictions relaxed.

Greenland Airports wanted to raise the limit for scheduled flight operations (i.e. arrivals plus departures) from four to five per hour.

In addition, the company would like to raise the ceiling for scheduled arrivals per hour from two to three.

The result was a partial success. The Danish Transport Authority has not moved on the first point, but will accommodate the second.

– We assess that Greenland Airports can handle three arrivals per hour without compromising aviation safety. The limit of a maximum of four flights per hour still applies, but now Greenland Airports will have a little more flexibility, confirms Head of Department at the Agency, Signe Finderup Slot.

Improvements since September

The Danish Transport Authority acknowledges that improvements have been made recently:

– Based on the restrictions in place so far, Greenland Airports has implemented management tools that have resulted in better planning of departures and arrivals to Nuuk. This is shown by our analysis of air traffic over the last three months, says Signe Finderup Slot.

The Norwegian Transport Authority introduced the new rules in September following a highly unsatisfactory inspection at Nuuk Airport.

The changes are a tough challenge for Air Greenland, which benefits from operating domestic departures in quick succession in connection with transatlantic flights.

Air Greenland has therefore offered to reduce traffic pressure by avoiding helicopter flights over Nuuk during periods when there are many aircraft in the air. This is stated in Greenland Airports' application to the Danish Transport Authority.

Provides information about stressful periods

The Norwegian Transport Authority's ban applies to flight planning. Therefore, the actual number of operations performed in Nuuk may well exceed four per hour without violating the rules. This can happen, for example, if some flights arrive late or early during a busy period.

However, Greenland Airports is obliged to report to the Danish Transport Authority on the occasions when the number of operations in total reaches six or more within an hour.

The reported data shows that this happened four times in December, including due to delays, ambulance flights and helicopters.

Sermitsiaq has previously contacted Air Greenland to obtain more detailed information about the delays caused by the restrictions. It was not possible to obtain specific figures.

Greenland Airports' goal is to have air traffic control installed at Nuuk Airport before the peak season starts this summer. This is expected to increase capacity significantly.