The Air Greenland service will be co-ordinated with arrivals in Iqaluit from Ottawa and other Canadian cities to ensure smooth connections for business people. (Bob Strong/Reuters)
Air Greenland isn’t exactly among the world’s major airlines. It only has 10 airplanes, 600 employees and one international route – to Iceland.
But when the airline announced Wednesday that it’s starting regular flights from Nuuk to Iqaluit this summer, many in the global mining community took notice. That’s because Greenland has become one of the hottest places in the world for mining and oil exploration.
Global warming, new extraction technologies and a recent move by Denmark to give the island territory autonomy over natural resources has prompted a small stampede of companies rushing to Greenland to tap into its wealth of uranium, iron ore, gold, gemstones, rare earths and offshore oil.
“Over the past few years, we’ve just seen a growing demand for this service,” Christian Keldsen, an Air Greenland spokesman said from Nuuk. “There is a lot of exploration going on.”Iqaluit made sense as the launching point for North America, he added, because it’s relatively close to Greenland and shares cultural and educational ties with Nuuk.
There used to be flights between the two communities back in the 1990s, but they were not sustainable, Mr. Keldsen said. Now, with all the exploration and mining activity under way in Greenland, Air Greenland saw an opportunity – especially since many companies have been chartering aircraft to make the trip.
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