Nerlerit Inaat Airport ( kl, Mittarfik Nerlerit Inaat, da, Constable Pynt Lufthavn) is an airport in the

Sermersooq Sermersooq (, da, sted med meget is, lit=place of much ice) is a municipality in Greenland, formed on 1 January 2009 from five earlier, smaller municipalities. Its administrative seat is the city of Nuuk (formerly called Godthåb), the capital ...

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in eastern

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...

. It is located on

Jameson Land Jameson Land is a peninsula in eastern Greenland. Geography Jameson Land is bounded to the southwest by Scoresby Sound (the world's largest fjord), to the northwest by the Stauning Alps, to the north by Scoresby Land, to the northeast by the Flemi ...

and serves the town of

Ittoqqortoormiit Ittoqqortoormiit (East Greenlandic: ; West Greenlandic: ''Illoqqortoormiut'' ), formerly known as Scoresbysund, is a settlement in the Sermersooq municipality in eastern Greenland. Its population was 345 as of 2020 and has been described as one of ...

, approximately to the south-east. The airport can serve

STOL A short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft is a conventional fixed-wing aircraft that has short runway requirements for takeoff and landing. Many STOL-designed aircraft also feature various arrangements for use on airstrips with harsh conditio ...

aircraft. An AS 350 helicopter of

Air Greenland Air Greenland A/S (formerly named Grønlandsfly), also known as Greenlandair, is the flag carrier airline of Greenland, owned by the Greenlandic Government. It operates a fleet of 32 aircraft, including 1 airliner used for transatlantic and cha ...

is permanently housed at the airport, linking it with Ittoqqortoormiit Heliport. The helicopter also provides

search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

capabilities within the surrounding area, and can be chartered for transport. On July 28, 2021, in Nerlerit Inaat Airport, a temperature of was recorded.

History

The airport was built in 1985 by the US oil company

ARCO ARCO ( ) is a brand of gasoline stations currently owned by Marathon Petroleum after BP sold its rights. BP commercializes the brand in Northern California, Oregon and Washington, while Marathon has rights for the rest of the United States an ...

in connection with oil exploration in

. It was sold to Greenland in 1990. In summer 2004 the airport was the destination of an arctic trip by two German

microlight Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and conventional three-axis control aircraft with ailer ...

pilots flying a

Flight Design CT2K The Flight Design CT series is a family of high-wing, tricycle undercarriage, two seat, ultralight and light-sport aircraft produced by Flight Design (Flightdesign Vertrieb) of Germany. The family includes the original CT and the CT2K, CTSW, C ...

light aircraft. The airport may be relocated to a new site on

Liverpool Land Liverpool Land is a peninsula in eastern Greenland. Geography The peninsula is bounded by Scoresby Sund in the south, Carlsberg Fjord in the northwest, ''Kangerterajiva'' (Hurry Inlet) in the southwest, the Greenland Sea in the east, and James ...

closer to Ittoqqortoormiit, between the settlement and Uunarteq cape ( da, Kap Tobin) to the south, thus eliminating the need for helicopter transfers.

Operations

The airport has around 15 employees, who have their home within the airport area.Nerlerit Inaat
(airgreenland.com) No other settlement is reachable by road, making the airport possibly the one with smallest population reachable by road in the world. There is a road to a seaport around 2 km south of the terminal building, and some other roads in the area. Transportation to the main settlement in the area (Ittoqqortoormiit) is by helicopter or (in the summer) by

boat A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size, shape, cargo or passenger capacity, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically found on inl ...

. The airport acts as stopping off point for a number of expeditions into

and

Northeast Greenland National Park Northeast Greenland National Park ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaanni nuna eqqissisimatitaq, da, Grønlands Nationalpark) is the world's largest national park and the 10th List of largest protected areas in the world, largest protected area (the only large ...

. Areas such as

Renland Renland is a peninsula in eastern Greenland. It is a part of the Sermersooq municipality. Despite its proximity to the coast Renland has an ice cap climate with bitterly cold winters and very low maximum temperatures in the summer. Renland was na ...

have only just been visited, or have had no known visitors.

Airlines and destinations

References

{{authority control Airports in Greenland Airports in the Arctic