In from the cold: New airports set to open up Greenland

A new international airport will soon open in Greenland’s capital Nuuk, allowing larger aircraft to land for the first time - paving the way for direct flights from the US 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 colourful wooden cottages look out over a wide sea fjord. Sitting on a hillside above the city, small 35-seat propeller planes take off and land from a tarmac airstrip. Currently anyone wishing to fly overseas first has to take one of these aircraft 200 miles (319km) north to a remote former military airport at Kangerlussuaq, and then change to a larger plane. Built by the Americans during World World II, Kangerlussuaq is currently one of only two runways on Greenland long enough for big jets. The other is Narsarsuaq in the far south of the country, and that was also a former US military base. But 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.<br/>