Air Greenland gets ready for third Nunavut-Greenland scheduled service

Camilla Siezing, sales manager for Air Greenland, said the airline will focus on tourists this summer on its Iqaluit-Nuuk service this summer. (PHOTO BY DAVID MURPHY)

If you live in Iqaluit, you’ll see Air Greenland’s unmistakable red-and-white Dash-7 aircraft flying over the city again this June for the third summer in a row.

Air Greenland will continue its Iqaluit to Nuuk service for another year.

But they’re refocusing their clientele, said Air Greenland’s sales manager, Camilla Siezing.

“The main reason for us to start this route is for the oil and mineral sector. It hasn’t been quite the amount that we expected,” Siezing said.

“But we had more of the tourist segment, friends and families last year,” Siezing said.

Because of a fewer than expected business clients last year, Air Greenland has scaled back the duration of the service by two weeks.

The airline will start its twice-a-week service, Monday and Fridays, between June 13 and Sept. 15, 2014. In 2013, they started a week earlier in June and finished a week later in September.

But “if demand permits we are prepared to extend the operating period for this route,” an Air Greenland brochure reads.

Siezing said seat counts ranged between 40 to 50 per cent in 2013.

Her goal is to get to 70 per cent in 2014, and Air Greenland is reaching out to the tourism market this year to reach that goal.

“We met some travel agents and that will kick off some new passengers. So that will be exciting to see,” she said.

But there won’t likely be more business travel than last year, Siezing said.

Red tape is preventing prospecting companies from exploring Greenland, she said.

“Not this year. Because there’s a lot of political debate, and a lot of [exploration] licenses haven’t been issued for this year,” Siezing said.

Eventually, Siezing said Iqaluit will act as a transit point for North American oil and mineral prospectors interested in Greenlandic natural resources.

“But hopefully in the coming years, not for this summer,” she said.

Siezing passed through Iqaluit to attend the Northern Lights trade show in Iqaluit this past week, where Air Greenland promoted their Nunavut-Greenland route.

Return air fares between Iqaluit and Nuuk are priced at $1,100.

But Siezing said that price could rise if demand persists throughout the year.

Flights can be booked on Air Greenland’s website.

Air Greenland has also teamed up with First Air again this year and are using a code sharing system.

This allows travellers originating in Canada to book flights from major Canadian cities to Greenland in a single booking, or for Greenlanders to fly directly to southern Canada, with a connecting flight in Iqaluit.