Ilulissat Airport

Ilulissat Airport (Greenlandic: Mittarfik Ilulissat, Danish: Ilulissat Lufthavn, originally Jacobshavn Lufthavn); (IATA: JAV, ICAO: BGJN) is a minor international airport serving Ilulissat, Greenland, the entire Disko Bay Region, the North and West Greenland. It is the 59th largest airport in the Nordic countries with 83,000 passengers in 2012 and is the second airport built in Greenland for civilian travel partially funded by the EU Structural Funds and Cohesion Fund. It is the third-busiest airport in Greenland, and one of the busiest for international travel in Greenland.^[2]

Ilulissat Airport Mittarfik Ilulissat Ilulissat Lufthavn
IATA: JAV ICAO: BGJN
Summary
Airport type	State owned
Owner	Mittarfeqarfiit
Serves	Ilulissat and Disko Bay, Greenland
Location	Ilulissat, Avannaata Municipality
Hub for	Air Greenland
Elevation AMSL	95 ft / 29 m
Coordinates	69°14′36″N 051°03′26″W
Website	www.mit.gl/ilulissat
Map
BGJN Location within Greenland
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 06/24 845 2,772 Asphalt
Statistics (2012)
Passengers 83,930
Source: AIP[1]

The airport is located north-east of Ilulissat, just 2.8 kilometres (1.7 mi) of city centre. It was built in 1983,^[3] replacing the heliport.^[3] Air Greenland uses the airport as a domestic hub for northern Greenland.

A major expansion of the airport, including a new, longer runway and a new terminal, is ongoing and is slated for completion in 2026, which will allow larger jet aircraft to serve more international destinations.^[4]

Airport expansion

Airport terminal

Inside the terminal

Plan of airport expansion. New runway is drawn in red.

The purpose of Ilulissat Airport has been debated in Greenland for decades; there has been pressure for runway extension from the local tourist industry and municipal authorities.^[5]

As of 2024, a new airport is under construction and was due to be completed by 2024, but delays have pushed completion to 2026.^[6][4] The expansion of the airport will feature a 2,200 m × 60 m (7,218 ft × 197 ft)^[7] runway to let the airport receive direct international airliner flights from mainland Europe and the Americas.^[8][9] It will be located just north of the present airport.^[10] The Nuuk and Ilulissat airport expansions have been subsidized with DKK 1.6 billion by the Government of Denmark. In 2025, the expansion was over budget, and needed a further DKK 400 million subsidy from the Government of Denmark, and a loan extension of DKK 1140 million.^[11]

There is a general debate on extending or replacing most airports in Greenland, since most are either ill-located former air bases, or very short.

Airlines and destinations

Airlines	Destinations
Air Greenland	Aasiaat,[12] Ilimanaq,[12] Nuuk,[13] Qaanaaq,[14] Qaarsut,[15] Qeqertaq,[12] Saqqaq,[12] Sisimiut, Upernavik[12] Seasonal: Kangerlussuaq,[citation needed] Qasigiannguit,[16] Qeqertarsuaq[citation needed]
Icelandair	Seasonal: Reykjavik–Keflavík[17]

Air Greenland operates government contract flights to villages in the Disko Bay area. These mostly cargo flights are not featured in the timetable, although they can be pre-booked.^[18] Departure times for these flights as specified during booking are by definition approximate, with the settlement service optimized on the fly depending on local demand for a given day. Settlement flights in the Disko Bay and Aasiaat archipelago areas are operated only during winter and spring. During summer and autumn, communication between settlements is by sea only, serviced by Diskoline.^[19]

Accidents and incidents

• On 29 January 2014, a De Havilland DHC-8 operated by Air Greenland (Flight 3205) suffered substantial damage in a landing accident. On landing, the left main gear collapsed and the plane skidded down a slope and came to a rest near the perimeter fence. This caused three injuries, not serious, and the aircraft was scrapped. The cause was a pilot error in difficult wind conditions.^[20]

See also

• List of airports in Greenland
• List of the busiest airports in the Nordic countries