No Canada-Greenland Flights Coming Soon: Airline

Direct flights between Greenland and Canada will not likely be offered anytime soon, according to Air Greenland.

The Greenland-based airline was hoping to establish a route between the two countries, and officials recently looked at makingIqaluit, Halifax or St. John’s its Canadian destination.

But an Air Greenland spokesperson told CBC News this week that an announcement likely won’t be coming for a long time, as there was not enough interest expressed in either Greenland or Canada to re-introduce an air link.

There has been no direct flight between Iqaluit and Greenland since 2001, when First Air and Air Greenland discontinued scheduled flights over Davis Strait.

A direct flight from Iqaluit to Nuuk, Greenland’s capital city, takes about 90 minutes over the strait.

But for now, travellers will have to continue connecting via Ottawa, Copenhagen and other cities in a trip that can take two or three days in each direction.

Earlier this year, the Nunavut government lobbied Air Greenland to introduce a direct route between Iqaluit and Nuuk, citing the potential for more business and cultural partnerships.