newstodate.aero
May 06, 2014 (newstodate): While Greenland's politicians are shuffling the issues of the country's airport infrastructure around, a new proposal has been forwarded by a private party.
The proposal calls for an extension of the current 950m runway at the capital's Nuuk Airport that is today only capable of handling traffic by turboprop aircraft, requiring all Transatlantic traffic to use instead the airport at Narsarsuaq and Kangerlussuaq, both placed in thinly populated and isolated areas in the southern and central parts of the country.
-Extending the runway by 249m, to a total of 1,199m, Nuuk Airport could receive medium-sized jet aircraft like Airbus A319 and Boeing 737 flying in directly from Denmark or other countries, says Kristian Nygaard, tourism consultant with extensive experience from former jobs with airlines.
-The extended runway would still require jet aircraft to take off with limitations on start weight which could be compensated for by transiting the out-bound flights via the two existing Transatlantic airports for re-fueling and loading of more passengers or cargo.
-With an extended runway, as proposed, Nuuk Airport's existing infrastructure could be sustained and find alternative usage in case the Greenlandic government should decide to eventually build a new, larger airport to serve the capital that houses the bulk of Greenland's population.
-And first of all, today's enormous waste of time and resources by passengers and cargo to be transported from various localities around the country into and from the distant Transatlantic airports could be avoided, in itself freeing much energy and money to be more usefully invested elsewhere in the society, says Mr Nygaard.
The proposal calls for an extension of the current 950m runway at the capital's Nuuk Airport that is today only capable of handling traffic by turboprop aircraft, requiring all Transatlantic traffic to use instead the airport at Narsarsuaq and Kangerlussuaq, both placed in thinly populated and isolated areas in the southern and central parts of the country.
-Extending the runway by 249m, to a total of 1,199m, Nuuk Airport could receive medium-sized jet aircraft like Airbus A319 and Boeing 737 flying in directly from Denmark or other countries, says Kristian Nygaard, tourism consultant with extensive experience from former jobs with airlines.
-The extended runway would still require jet aircraft to take off with limitations on start weight which could be compensated for by transiting the out-bound flights via the two existing Transatlantic airports for re-fueling and loading of more passengers or cargo.
-With an extended runway, as proposed, Nuuk Airport's existing infrastructure could be sustained and find alternative usage in case the Greenlandic government should decide to eventually build a new, larger airport to serve the capital that houses the bulk of Greenland's population.
-And first of all, today's enormous waste of time and resources by passengers and cargo to be transported from various localities around the country into and from the distant Transatlantic airports could be avoided, in itself freeing much energy and money to be more usefully invested elsewhere in the society, says Mr Nygaard.