MICHEAL PHELAN / LONDON
Bigger Aircraft will boost capacity to Denmark, and support charters and Iceland route
Air Greenland is to undertake significant expansion later this year with the lease of an Airbus A330-200.
The country's national carrier, which is rebranding from its previous name Greenlandair, says it is taking the ex-Sabena aircraft on a five-year operating lease to increase capacity on its route between Greenland and Denmark. The deal calls for the 245-seater to be delivered to Air Greenland in October.
"The aircraft will eventually replace our Boeing 757-200," says Air Greenland director, charter and cargo, Hans Peter Hansen. The 168-seat 757 is the only jet in the airline's 10-strong fixed-wing fleet, which comprises eight de Havilland Twin Otter and Dash 7 turboprops.
Hansen says the bigger aircraft will be used to boost capacity on Greenland-Copenhagen services. Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), which currently operates a Boeing 767-300ER from Copenhagen three times a week, is to withdraw from the route, leaving Air Greenland as the sole operator (Flight International, 23-29 April).
Air Greenland plans to use the A330 to serve the Copenhagen-Søndre Strømfjord (Kangerlussauq) route seven days a week during the summer and five days a week during the winter. Its 757 currently serves Copenhagen-Søndre Strømfjord three times weekly and flies twice weekly to Copenhagen from Narsarsuaq airport in southern Greenland. The 757 will continue to operate to Narsarsuaq after the A330 is delivered, as the shorter runway prohibits A330 operations. Hansen says that the Narsarsuaq direct service will be suspended with the withdrawal of the 757 in about a year. Air Greenland will use both twinjets over the winter for its charter operations and potential new routes to Iceland.
Source: Flight International
