Along with Kangerlussuaq Airport , it is one of two airports in Greenland capable of serving large airliners. It is also the only international airport in southern Greenland. The settlement it serves is small, with the airport primarily functioning as a transfer point for passengers heading for the helicopter hubs of Air Greenland in Qaqortoq and Nanortalik. The airfield at Narsarsuaq was first built by the United States Department of War now the Department of Defense as an army airbase, its construction beginning in July [2] and the first aircraft landing in January A military hospital with beds was completed in On 6 July the supply ship "SS Montrose" was wrecked on a cliff in the Tunulliarfik Fjord southwest of the airbase.
The Danish Authorities decided to reopen the airport soon after. From November Danish Air Force had 3 PBY Catalinas stationed at Narsarsuaq with the assignment to make ice-observations along the coast of Greenland, and these observations were broadcast to ships in the area.
Ice-observations are still based at Narsarsuaq and carried out with the AS Eurocopter aircraft. The airport served as a regional focus city for Air Greenland until the late s, when tough economic conditions forced the airline to raise the low season prices several times.
The new route was closed before the first flights could commence, adding to resentment amongst businesses and the community of South Greenland. With the Boeing airliner sold on 26 April , [12] the entire Kujalleq municipality, and southern Greenland in general remains without prospects for a direct connection to continental Europe.
Re-establishment of a direct route to continental Europe was unlikely to happen in There are plans to build a new airport near Qaqortoq and close the Narsarsuaq Airport, which would eliminate the need for helicopter transfers to Qaqortoq, the main settlement in the region. The winning pilot was Rene Petersen of Greenland, second and third places both taken by French pilots. Two were killed, of three on board.
