Ilulissat, the west-coast town that guards Greenland's most famous ice, has a new international airport — and it completes the biggest transport overhaul the country has seen. The runway is 2,200 metres, long enough for large jets, and it was cleared by the Danish Civil Aviation and Railway Authority after Greenland Airports called the opening the final piece of a historic expansion.

It is the third airport to open under the programme: Nuuk got its new gateway in November 2024 and Qaqortoq followed in April 2026. Together, the operator says, they form a new backbone for a country where travelling between towns has always meant boat, helicopter or small plane. Denmark helped fund the build, with tourism and local business growth the stated goal.

For travellers, the headline news is what now lands there. Air Greenland launched a direct Copenhagen–Ilulissat route on opening day, run initially by Jettime on a Boeing 737-800. The regular winter schedule starts in November, flying mainly on Wednesdays, with extra Monday departures around Christmas, New Year and in March. From 3 June to 16 October 2027, Icelandair adds a seasonal Keflavík service, handy for anyone connecting via Reykjavík. Domestically, Air Greenland links Ilulissat with Nuuk, Aasiaat, Qaarsut and Upernavik. The airport will ramp up in phases, with full operations targeted for the summer 2027 season.

Why bother flying straight there? Ilulissat sits about 250 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle, beside Disko Bay and its parade of enormous icebergs. The UNESCO-listed Ilulissat Icefjord — where the Sermeq Kujalleq glacier calves into the sea — was previously a long haul: fly into Nuuk or Kangerlussuaq, then connect on a smaller aircraft. Now you can leave Copenhagen and be watching icebergs the same day. Expect the town, already Greenland's tourism hub with dog-sledding, boat trips and the icefjord boardwalk, to get busier, especially in summer.

Practically speaking, the new routes make a Greenland trip easier to piece together: fly in via Copenhagen or Keflavík, then use Air Greenland's domestic network to see more of the coast, or combine Ilulissat with the capital Nuuk on the same ticket. Winter travellers get the Wednesday schedule plus festive extras — and polar night, northern lights and dog sledding as the payoff. If you've been putting Greenland on the 'someday' list because getting there looked complicated, that excuse just got weaker.