Getting to one of Greenland's star attractions just got dramatically simpler. On 29 October, Ilulissat on Greenland's west coast welcomed its first direct international flight, thanks to a brand-new airport built around a 2,200-metre runway — nearly triple the length of the old 845-metre strip. A terminal of roughly 5,000 square metres means the town can now take large jet aircraft, not just the small domestic planes travellers previously had to transfer onto after landing at Nuuk or Kangerlussuaq.

The first arrival set the tone: Air Greenland flew an Airbus A330neo straight in from Copenhagen, touching down at 11.40am local time. Until now, reaching Ilulissat meant a Copenhagen flight followed by a domestic hop — a full day of connections. From Europe or North America, it's now a five-to-six-hour direct trip.

The schedule is set to expand quickly. From November 2026, Danish charter airline Jettime takes over the Copenhagen route with a Boeing 737-800, initially flying weekly with extra seasonal departures. In April 2027, Air Greenland brings its new Airbus A320neo onto the route, and by summer 2027 plans six direct flights per week from Copenhagen.

There's a second gateway too: Icelandair will connect Ilulissat with Keflavík each summer, with three weekly flights running from 3 June to 16 October in 2027 — handy for North American travellers routing through Reykjavik.

Why make the trip? Ilulissat sits beside the Unesco-listed Ilulissat Icefjord, where ice walls as tall as skyscrapers calve off the Greenland ice sheet and drift out into Disko Bay. It's one of the few places on earth where you can watch house-sized icebergs from shore, by boat or from the air — and the bay is a reliable spot for whale watching in summer.

Visit Greenland's CEO Linda Kleist called the opening a milestone, noting it joins new international airports in Nuuk (opened two years ago) and Qaqortoq to spread tourism across the territory — while stressing that growth needs to respect local communities, culture and nature.

For travellers, this is the moment Greenland moves from expedition-style logistics to a realistic week-long holiday. If the icefjord has been on your list, the window of relative quiet before flight numbers ramp up in 2027 might be the smart time to go.