Transport in Greenland
Encyclopedia
The transportation system in Greenland
is very unusual in that Greenland has no railways, no inland waterways, and virtually no roads between towns.
and Kangilinnguit
; the rest are isolated. Historically the major means of transportation has been by boat around the coast in summer and by dog sled
in winter, particularly in the north and east. There are ports at Ilulissat
, Kangerlussuaq
(also known by its Danish name Søndre Strømfjord), Qaqortoq
, Narsaq
, Nuuk
(Godthåb), Aasiaat
and Sisimiut
. Several other towns have also small ports. The only two users of the harbors are Royal Arctic Line
and Arctic Umiaq Line
.
While Germany
occupied Denmark
during World War II
, the United States
controlled Greenland and built airport
s there. The airports were codenamed Bluie West One
through to Bluie West Eight on the west of the island and Bluie East One to Bluie East Four on the eastern side.
The largest of those airports, Bluie West Eight, now renamed Kangerlussuaq Airport
, remains the international hub for travel to Greenland, as it is the only airport that has a large enough runway to service jumbo jets. American authorities at one time entertained the idea of building a road from Kangerlussuaq to the second largest airport, in Narsarsuaq, several hundred kilometres (miles) to the south. The idea was abandoned after feasibility studies failed to prove it was possible.
Greenland now has 18 airstrips, 14 of which are paved. All domestic flights are operated by Air Greenland
. The name was anglicized
in 2002 from the Danish
Grønlandsfly (Greenlandair in English). International flights are limited to four weekly flights from Copenhagen
to Kangerlussuaq.
Air Iceland
fly from Reykjavík
to Narsarsuaq. It offers also "day trips to the wilderness" from Reykjavík to Kulusuk
on the east coast. Air Iceland flies to Ittoqqortoormiit
over Kulusuk
once or twice a week throughout the year.
Flights from Reykjavik are flown throughout the year. Also, year-round flights from Reykjavik to Ilulissat
will be offered after April 2011.
Historically, special purpose narrow gauge railways, such as that in the village of Qoornoq
in the Nuuk
fjord
, have operated. The Qoornoq railway was used for transporting fish from the harbour to scaffolds for drying. The railway was abandoned shortly before the village.
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
is very unusual in that Greenland has no railways, no inland waterways, and virtually no roads between towns.
Overview
There are 150 km (90 mi) of roads in the whole country; 60 km (40 mi) of the roads are paved. Two towns are connected by a 4.5km road, IvittuutIvittuut
Ivittuut, was a municipality , located on the coast of Arsuk fjord in southern Greenland. With an area of just 100 km² , it was the smallest municipality of Greenland, bordering on the former Narsaq municipality in the north, east, and south, and on the west by the Labrador Sea...
and Kangilinnguit
Kangilinnguit
Kangilinnguit is a settlement and a naval base in the Sermersooq municipality, located at the mouth of Arsuk Fjord in southwestern Greenland. The settlement had 160 inhabitants in 2010, most of whom are Danish Navy personnel, attached to Island Command Greenland headquarters...
; the rest are isolated. Historically the major means of transportation has been by boat around the coast in summer and by dog sled
Dog sled
A dog sled is a sled pulled by one or more sled dogs used to travel over ice and through snow. Numerous types of sleds are used, depending on their function. They can be used for dog sled racing.-History:...
in winter, particularly in the north and east. There are ports at Ilulissat
Ilulissat
Ilulissat is a town in the Qaasuitsup municipality in western Greenland, located approximately north of the Arctic Circle. With the population of 4,546 as of 2010, it is the third-largest settlement in Greenland, after Nuuk and Sisimiut....
, Kangerlussuaq
Kangerlussuaq
Kangerlussuaq is a settlement in western Greenland in the Qeqqata municipality, located at the head of a fjord of the same name. It is Greenland's main air transport hub, being the site of Greenland's largest commercial airport....
(also known by its Danish name Søndre Strømfjord), Qaqortoq
Qaqortoq
Qaqortoq is a town in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland. With a population of 3,230 as of 2011, it is the most populous town in southern Greenland, and the fourth-largest town in the country. The name is western Greenlandic and means "[the] white [one]".- History :The area around...
, Narsaq
Narsaq
Narsaq is a town in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland. The name Narsaq is Greenlandic for "plain", referring to the beautiful plain on the shore of Tunulliarfik Fjord where the town is located.- History :...
, Nuuk
Nuuk
Nuuk, is the capital of Greenland, the northernmost capital in North America and the largest city in Greenland. Located in the Nuup Kangerlua fjord, the city lies on the eastern shore of the Labrador Sea and on the west coast of Sermersooq. Nuuk is the largest cultural and economic center in...
(Godthåb), Aasiaat
Aasiaat
Aasiaat is a town in the Qaasuitsup municipality in western Greenland. Located in the heart of Aasiaat Archipelago at the southern end of Disko Bay. With a population of 3,005 as of 2010, it is Greenland's fifth-largest town.-Etymology:...
and Sisimiut
Sisimiut
Sisimiut is a town in central-western Greenland, located on the coast of Davis Strait, approximately north of Nuuk. It is the administrative center of the Qeqqata Municipality and the second-largest town in Greenland, with a population of 5,460 people as of 2010. The site of the present-day town...
. Several other towns have also small ports. The only two users of the harbors are Royal Arctic Line
Royal Arctic Line
Royal Arctic Line A/S or Royal Arctic is a freight company in Greenland, formed in 1992 and headquartered in Nuuk. It has 650 employees and is owned by the Government of Greenland...
and Arctic Umiaq Line
Arctic Umiaq Line
Arctic Umiaq Line A/S or Arctic Umiaq is a passenger and freight line in Greenland. Its name derives from the Greenlandic word for a traditional Inuit boat, the umiaq. The sea connection provided by Arctic Umiaq is a lifeline for the entire western and southwestern Greenland...
.
While Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
occupied Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
controlled Greenland and built airport
Airport
An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...
s there. The airports were codenamed Bluie West One
Bluie West One
Bluie West One airfield was built on a glacial moraine at what is now the village of Narsarsuaq, near the southern tip of Greenland. Construction by the U.S. Army began in June 1941, and the first plane landed there in January 1942...
through to Bluie West Eight on the west of the island and Bluie East One to Bluie East Four on the eastern side.
The largest of those airports, Bluie West Eight, now renamed Kangerlussuaq Airport
Kangerlussuaq Airport
Kangerlussuaq Airport is an airport in Kangerlussuaq, a settlement in the Qeqqata municipality in central-western Greenland. Alongside Narsarsuaq Airport, it is one of only two civilian airports in Greenland large enough to handle large airliners, having more stable weather, being located further...
, remains the international hub for travel to Greenland, as it is the only airport that has a large enough runway to service jumbo jets. American authorities at one time entertained the idea of building a road from Kangerlussuaq to the second largest airport, in Narsarsuaq, several hundred kilometres (miles) to the south. The idea was abandoned after feasibility studies failed to prove it was possible.
Greenland now has 18 airstrips, 14 of which are paved. All domestic flights are operated by Air Greenland
Air Greenland
Air Greenland A/S is the flag carrier airline of Greenland, jointly owned by the government of Greenland, the SAS Group, and the government of Denmark...
. The name was anglicized
Anglicisation
Anglicisation, or anglicization , is the process of converting verbal or written elements of any other language into a form that is more comprehensible to an English speaker, or, more generally, of altering something such that it becomes English in form or character.The term most often refers to...
in 2002 from the Danish
Danish language
Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
Grønlandsfly (Greenlandair in English). International flights are limited to four weekly flights from Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
to Kangerlussuaq.
Air Iceland
Air Iceland
Air Iceland is a regional airline with its head office on the property of Reykjavík Airport in Reykjavík, Iceland. It operates scheduled services to domestic destinations and to Greenland. Its main bases are Reykjavík Airport and Akureyri Airport...
fly from Reykjavík
Reykjavík
Reykjavík is the capital and largest city in Iceland.Its latitude at 64°08' N makes it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói Bay...
to Narsarsuaq. It offers also "day trips to the wilderness" from Reykjavík to Kulusuk
Kulusuk
Kulusuk is a settlement in the Sermersooq municipality in southeastern Greenland, located on an island of the same name. The settlement population of 286 is quite uncommon for an Inuit settlement in Greenland with many Danes choosing to live there, due to the airport...
on the east coast. Air Iceland flies to Ittoqqortoormiit
Ittoqqortoormiit
Ittoqqortoormiit is a settlement in the Sermersooq municipality in eastern Greenland. Its population is 469 as of 2010.The Danish name Scoresbysund derives from the name of the Arctic explorer and whaler William Scoresby, who was the first to map the area in 1822. The Greenlandic name...
over Kulusuk
Kulusuk
Kulusuk is a settlement in the Sermersooq municipality in southeastern Greenland, located on an island of the same name. The settlement population of 286 is quite uncommon for an Inuit settlement in Greenland with many Danes choosing to live there, due to the airport...
once or twice a week throughout the year.
Flights from Reykjavik are flown throughout the year. Also, year-round flights from Reykjavik to Ilulissat
Ilulissat
Ilulissat is a town in the Qaasuitsup municipality in western Greenland, located approximately north of the Arctic Circle. With the population of 4,546 as of 2010, it is the third-largest settlement in Greenland, after Nuuk and Sisimiut....
will be offered after April 2011.
Historically, special purpose narrow gauge railways, such as that in the village of Qoornoq
Qoornoq
Qoornoq is an abandoned fishing village in the Sermersooq municipality in southwestern Greenland.-History:The area was known to have been inhabited by the ancient pre-Inuit, Paleo-Eskimo people of the Saqqaq culture as far back as 2200 BC. It still contains archaeological ruins of ancient Inuit...
in the Nuuk
Nuuk
Nuuk, is the capital of Greenland, the northernmost capital in North America and the largest city in Greenland. Located in the Nuup Kangerlua fjord, the city lies on the eastern shore of the Labrador Sea and on the west coast of Sermersooq. Nuuk is the largest cultural and economic center in...
fjord
Fjord
Geologically, a fjord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created in a valley carved by glacial activity.-Formation:A fjord is formed when a glacier cuts a U-shaped valley by abrasion of the surrounding bedrock. Glacial melting is accompanied by rebound of Earth's crust as the ice...
, have operated. The Qoornoq railway was used for transporting fish from the harbour to scaffolds for drying. The railway was abandoned shortly before the village.