This is what security will be like at future airports

Since 2024, aviation in Greenland has been very much about the new airport in Nuuk, for better or worse. This year, it will also be a lot about south and north, when Qaqortoq gets its new airport on April 16 and Ilulissat its Atlantic airport in October.

In this context, Anna Eva Villefrance plays a central role. She knows the aviation industry better than most after 35 years at Naviair. In the fall of 2025, she took on a new position at Greenland Airports.

– I am the program manager for commissioning in Qaqortoq and Ilulissat, so my job is to make sure that everything is in place and working properly at the upcoming airports. Of course, this also applies after we have cut the cords and the airports have started operating, she says.

Anna Eva Villefrance's areas of responsibility are wide-ranging, but this time we are talking mostly about security. It has been one of the biggest problems at Nuuk Airport and has led to a number of articles in Sermitsiaq.

Villefrance starts by saying that Greenland Airports has made an important decision in this area. The next airports will have a different setup than Nuuk, where all passengers have been checked since November 28, 2024.

– We have decided to separate domestic and international passengers with regard to security at the upcoming airports. This means that in Qaqortoq and Ilulissat you only need to go through security if you fly out of Greenland, she says and elaborates:

– There are several advantages to this. Firstly, it will of course be easier for domestic passengers to get through the airport, and for us at Greenland Airports it also means that fewer people need to be recruited and fewer costs, she explains.

Fewer international flights

The current decision was made after Greenland Airports reviewed the expected traffic patterns in the future. Anna Villefrance herself calls it common sense:

– In the upcoming airports, there will be fewer international flights than in Nuuk. This means that there will be many days a year when we will not need security for international flights at all, and then the pendulum will swing to us choosing the separate solution, she says.

In this respect, the new airports will function more like Kangerlussuaq than Nuuk. However, this does not mean that everything will be like the old days for Greenland Airports in Qaqortoq and Ilulissat.

“We are also doing some things differently than we have done before,” notes Anna Villefrance.

– In the older airports, employees have often been employed for other things and then helped with security. We are reversing the principle to a dedicated security staff, where people are primarily employed for security and sometimes solve other tasks, she says.

Local anchoring of security

The management of this important area has also been thought about, the program manager continues:

– We are doing this so that the airport managers in Qaqortoq and Ilulissat also become security managers. They then have security managers who can also be deputy security managers. The purpose is to anchor the security area locally, out in the individual new airports, she says.

Have you employed all the security people you need?

– We have all employees employed in Qaqortoq, including security, where some of our employees have come from Narsarsuaq. We still need a few more people in Ilulissat, but recruitment is well underway.

Is it still the goal that Ilulissat should have One Stop Security approval, so that passengers can fly on from Iceland and Denmark without passing through security again?

– We still want that in the long term. But that is not our focus right now. We are focusing on ensuring good, stable international airports that comply with the laws and regulations that they must, and are sensibly operated. Then we can return to One Stop Security.

It turns out towards the end of the interview in Nuuk that Anna Villefrance is actually on her way to Qaqortoq via Narsarsuaq on the same day. On the agenda is, among other things, a briefing from the Norwegian Transport Authority and some questions regarding buildings and office layout, she says.

– There is still a lot to be resolved before April 16, and it is now easier to manage everything when you are on site, says the host.