Flights between New York, Greenland have historical and symbolic significance

Until recently, traveling from a North American city to Nuuk in Greenland was an ordeal. It usually started with a red-eye flight over Greenland to Keflavik, Iceland, followed by a 45-minute bus ride into Reykjavik. From there, you’d catch a taxi to the domestic airport on the outskirts of town, and finally, if the weather gods permitted, you’d board a tiny, slow, Dash-8 prop plane, backtracking three-and-half hours west to Nuuk. All told, the journey could take up to 15 hours.

Apart from a seasonal, weekly Dash-8 flight between the small town of Iqaluit, Nunavut, in Canada and Nuuk that began operating last summer, Greenland has had no direct flight connections to the rest of North America.

That’s about to change.

In October, United Airlines announced a direct flight starting next summer between Newark Liberty International Airport just outside New York City and Nuuk. The Greenland capital’s new international airport will begin receiving jets for the first time this month following the years-long construction of a new terminal and runway extension. Depending on the success of the United flight, other airlines with direct service to and from North America may follow.

The only year-round jet traffic to Greenland has for years been a once daily flight between Kangerlussuaq, the country’s only international airport an hour north of Nuuk by plane, and Copenhagen, some 4,000 kilometers (2,485 miles) away. Although Air Greenland and Icelandair now operate year-round flights between Nuuk and Keflavik, they are infrequent (weekly or even bi-weekly during winter).

For centuries, Greenland has been inaccessible except to the most intrepid travelers. The influx of tourists traveling to Greenland from the U.S. is bound to expand the country’s fledgling tourism sector but perhaps more importantly will enable Greenlanders to easily access the rest of North America for the first time.

Greenland is a former Danish colony whose majority population are Inuit, and it has remained largely isolated within the Danish orbit since the early 1700s except for a brief interlude during World War II when the country was occupied and defended by the U.S.

Nearly all imported food and goods are shipped to Greenland from Denmark, the small Scandinavian country whose population is approximately the size of Wisconsin’s.

Unlike nearby Iceland, Greenlanders learn and speak Danish as a second language rather than English to access educational opportunities in faraway Denmark, as well as to communicate with the largely transitory, ethnic Danes that are concentrated in Nuuk and dominate the country’s government bureaucracy and private sector.

Although Greenland established a from of self-government in 2008 and its major political parties have for years angled to secure Greenland’s independence as a sovereign state, very few major, practical changes have transpired marking a pivot away from Denmark. In fact, the country, now an autonomous territory within the Danish kingdom, moved temporally closer to Denmark last year when Greenland’s parliament voted to change the country’s time zone to reduce the difference between Greenland and Denmark from four hours to three, resulting in darker mornings and brighter evenings this fall after the change went into effect.

The country’s state-owned flagship airline, Air Greenland, has also prioritized, in recent years, adding additional flight routes between Greenland and various Danish towns, instead of branching outward. Furthermore, Greenland still defers to Denmark to oversee immigration into the country, stymying efforts to improve its beleaguered labor market.

The government of Greenland styles itself as a Nordic welfare state and is a member of the Nordic Council, yet the country stands apart from other members due to its colonial legacy, majority Inuit demographic and continuing challenges familiar to other Indigenous Peoples including historical trauma, elevated rates of suicide, tuberculosis, and poverty. The country is also wrestling with its own ethnic and political identity at a time when the Arctic has re-emerged as a geopolitically strategic region for economic development and warfare.

Unlike Inuit in Alaska and Canada from whom all Greenlanders descend, Inuit in Greenland are Danish citizens and are not members of federally recognized tribes or Inuit Treaty Organizations, the equivalent of tribes for Inuit in Canada. Furthermore, their human rights and right to self-determination as an Indigenous People are not affirmed or elaborated on in domestic law and policy, despite the fact that lawmakers are almost exclusively Inuit and the country’s sole official language, Kalaallisut, is an Inuit language.

The question over whether Inuit should even be formally recognized by the Government of Greenland as an Indigenous People within Greenland is a prickly public debate, with opponents claiming that such a move would implicitly discriminate against non-Inuit. Proponents see this step as foundational for securing Indigenous human rights and more effectively addressing social and economic inequities between Inuit and non-Inuit.

As Greenland begins to open up to the world, Greenlanders will inevitably be influenced by other worldviews and ways of doing things. The influence of the Danish language as the language of colonial power, employment, and education, is likely to fade as new air connections gradually integrate Greenland into the broader global community and economy.

Increased air connections may also facilitate practical changes in Greenlandic society as well, including the expansion of trade with the U.S. and Canada. Partnerships between the Government of Greenland and the mining sector that Greenland would likely depend on to bankroll its aspirations for sovereignty and independence may be facilitated by improved connections with North America. Improved air connections may also create opportunities for post-secondary educational attainment, access to specialized medicine, and greater artistic and other forms of cultural exchange. The new air link between Nuuk and the U.S. will accelerate the erosion of Greenland’s sometimes antiquated dependency on Denmark and greater integration with the rest of North America. The question isn’t whether these and other changes may follow but how well Greenlandic society will manage them.

Tim Aqukkasuk Argetsinger is Iñupiaq from Anchorage, Alaska, with roots in Kotzebue and Deering. He has lived with his family in Nuuk, Greenland, since 2019.