Ticket sales slow for Air Greenland's Iqaluit-Nuuk route
Airline to review route's viability at season's end
Air Greenland resumed its Nuuk-Iqaluit route today with the first flight of the season.
It arrived and departed Iqaluit, starting the route's third summer as the only direct connection between Nunavut and Greenland.
The flights will continue every Monday and Friday until mid-August, but airline officials say bookings are down so far this year.
Christian Keldsen, Chief Commercial Officer with Air Greenland, says at the end of this summer the airline will look at whether the route is still viable.
"Sales-wise, I'm not feeling as good as I used to feel," he said. "We're going to continue with the operation but we haven't seen the numbers come in yet that we're expecting. This is a lot to do with the oil mineral industry and their use of the route."
When Air Greenland re-started the route in 2012, it was expecting to serve more travellers from the oil and mining industries. Instead, it was used primarily by tourists and people visiting family.
The airline has already shortened this year's season — it was originally planned to run until Sept. 15.
It plans to evaluate the viability of the route in the fall but remains optimistic that business will pick up.