“We are aiming for high quality premium passengers rather than mass numbers and hoards.” Air Greenland CEO Jacob Nitter Sørensen on Nuuk’s new airport and rising tourism.

Nuuk

Greenland has seen a significant increase in tourism, with visitor numbers surpassing the local population. The opening of Nuuk's new airport has attracted international carriers, including the first direct flight from the United States in nearly two decades. Air Greenland's CEO, Jakob Nytterve Sørensen, noted that tourists arriving via these new routes are also traveling to smaller communities, benefiting local businesses and domestic flights.

Sørensen emphasized that while there is potential for further expansion into European markets, current constraints such as limited hotel capacity need to be addressed before adding more routes. He also highlighted that Greenland's government is proactively managing tourism growth by setting limits and focusing on attracting high-quality, premium visitors rather than mass tourism. The CEO also discussed the versatile role of Air Greenland's helicopters in supporting tourism, mineral exploration, and infrastructure maintenance.

Air Greenland CEO on Nuuk’s new airport and rising tourism

Now Mexico, of course, is at one end of the tourism spectrum. 45 million tourists last year. The other end, Greenland, gets 141,000 tourists last year, more than the population itself. And just after 7.30 in the evening in Nuuk, oh what a gorgeous evening, the sun will set tonight, just after midnight. Midnight tomorrow morning, isn't that spectacular? That's from the Earth camera at Nuuk in Greenland. All of this is great news for tourists looking to see the unspoiled beauty. The views in the new airport are attracting more visitors. International carriers are already taking advantage. United flew from Newark to Nuuk last month, the first direct flight from the United States in nearly 20 years. The competition presents an opportunity for the flag carrier Air Greenland. The CEO, Jakob Nytterve Sørensen, joins me from Nuuk. It looks like it's a glorious evening there for you. Air Greenland, I mean, you've got this vast opportunity to expand now. The question is how you take advantage of it. Yeah, Richard, welcome to Nuuk. It is indeed a beautiful sunny evening in Nuuk, 20 comfortable degrees today. And as you say, this is a massive opportunity for Air Greenland and Greenland as a country. And one of the things that we are already experiencing is that people coming in from the United States on the United flight, they continue on to other destinations in Greenland. And that's how the true community impacts are seen, where the tourists actually go out to the smaller places in Greenland and spend money, use the local tour operators and fill up the domestic planes as well. So all in all, it's a good deal. Okay, now, of course, you do have one long-haul, medium-haul flight, which is to to your parent, to the sovereign over in Denmark. And I guess it's not a vast stretch, you know, to then add another medium-haul flight to London or to Frankfurt, Paris or whatever. And just look, I'm not going to ask you, are you going to do an Iceland day? You're a long way off that. Instead, I'm going to suggest you start cherry picking those European capitals and then start, as long as you've got United, you've got the US involved as well. Yeah, and that's definitely part of our long-term strategy. But I think I mentioned last time on the show back in October that our main constraint at the moment is hotel capacity. And the success story is that the hotels in Greenland are actually already filling up. So before we can actually start opening, expanding new routes into Europe and the United States, we actually need to get the hotel capacity going up and expanding into the winter season to to utilise the unused capacity in the other seasons. So definitely part of our long-term strategy and an option. But right now, we have to organically grow a little bit more on the incoming. I don't want to be the person who always manages to see a cloud on the horizon. But the moment it starts, it will be very difficult to stop. Now, I see tonight Barcelona is just sort of getting rid of two cruise terminals or cruise things. We heard about Mexico City. You're going to be the destination that people want to go to. I confidently predict it in the next five to 10 years. How are you going to manage it? Yeah, it's a very, very good question. And it's something that has been discussed in Greenland ever since the airports were first planned, because we know that Greenland has a lot to offer and we know this is the threat. We've seen it in Iceland. We've seen it in Europe, in Barcelona and other places. I think there are a few things that are in our favour. One is the airport itself. We can handle up to maybe six to eight jet departures in a day. I think that will happen in a matter of minutes in JFK. So that's one natural limit. And the other one is the laws that are set by our government. Our government is very proactive in terms of making laws that sort of limit the number of tourists. So we are aiming for high quality premium passengers rather than mass numbers and hordes. What's the feeling at the moment? I mean, it's not a political question per se. Has the temperature gone down over the Trump-wanting Greenland? Or when you go for a drink in the evening, are people still frothing about it? I think the temperature has gone down a little bit, which is good. But I think this whole situation has also sparked some necessary discussions. And it has definitely helped us as a business. And I think it has sparked even more interest in Greenland. But definitely the temperature is a little more cool now than it was back in a few months ago. What's the helicopter behind you? And what do you use it for? So that's a very good question. So the helicopter is a multi-use tool. It's a Swiss Army knife. It's the backbone of the mineral exploration activities, looking for minerals for the British institution, but it's also doing flights with tourists. It's just been out today, actually, with some Europeans and some Americans. And it also does infrastructure repair work on our communication networks. It transports passengers and does even medivacs. So it's a very, very... Versatile. Yeah, great tool. Right. I'll make the promise I made before. I promise you, we will bring Questmeans Business to Nookham. I promise you. I'm just not sure when, but we will be there. Good to see you. Thank you. You are very...

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