Greenland, the world’s largest island, has very little roading infrastructure and transport is heavily dependent upon air travel, using Air Greenland’s government-funded mixed fleet of helicopters and fixed-wing types to service the island’s travel needs in the challenging arctic environment.

Greenland is an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark, and Greenland Airlines was established as its national airline in 1960. Services evolved considerably over the ensuing years, and the company changed its name to Air Greenland in 2002. Company CEO for the last seven years, Jacob Nitter Sørensen started his career as a fixed-wing pilot, then got involved in company management, eventually also transitioning into the helicopter side of the company operations. He explained that there is generally no feasible land transport option between Greenland’s various communities aside from snowmobile or dog-sled. There are no trains, and because it is virtually impossible to build roads between many communities, there is no expensive roading and land transport infrastructure to build and maintain, so air travel is a fast and efficient alternative. To provide this service, Air Greenland is funded 156 million Danish Kroner (approximately 21 million euros) annually by the government of Greenland, which pays for approximately 80 to 90 per cent of the service’s costs. The passengers’ ticket price funds the balance.

 
As climate varies, land transport options can become even more limited. Sørensen related, “The sea ice situation is getting increasingly sketchy. When I was a kid, you could sometimes drive trucks on the ice in some areas, but now you sometimes can’t even go by dog-sled anymore. In the summer, you can go by boat. Still, the helicopter is more efficient and faster, especially in a medical emergency situation and for the whole winter season, the helicopter is basically the only means of transportation.” Most passengers are locals and the next largest segment is government personnel such as police, healthcare professionals and teachers.

Modified Dash-8s fly the resident population and international visitors between the nation’s airports, which have steep approaches and are shorter than anywhere else in the world that Dash-8s fly to. A fleet of helicopters services further travel to and from the airports and various cities, towns and communities, and the company has recently completed a major fleet upgrade, replacing older AS350-B3+s and 40-year-old Bell 212s with brand new Airbus Helicopters’ H125s and H155s respectively. The two search and rescue Sikorsky S61s were excellently maintained and pristine but were 58 years old, with up to 45,000 airframe hours and were replaced by Airbus H225s. Transitioning to an all-Airbus fleet was not a goal for the upgrade. Replacements for the three outgoing types were selected on their merits, with every offering available being assessed for suitability. Fortuitously, however, the single-manufacturer combined fleet has simplified things on the maintenance side, with mechanics highly experienced on the AS350 series now working with manuals, procedures and systems that boast a high commonality between all the new types.

Air Greenland operates an interconnected network using its mix of types. Typically, travel between communities involves a helicopter flight to the nearest airport, a fixed-wing flight to the destination airport and another helicopter flight to the destination community. “The 155 fits our route network and is the workhorse for passenger transport. In terms of its range, payload, baggage capacity and the number of passengers, it’s perfect,” commented Sørensen, adding that the type commonly carries up to ten passengers at a time. The entire resident population of Greenland numbers only around 56,000 people, but according to Sørensen, the company moves around 300,000 domestic passengers a year and about 150,000 internationally, figures that illustrate the extent of, and heavy reliance on air travel. Typical sectors are between thirty and sixty miles and the longest internal flight is just over 100 miles. Services run on a schedule but vary according to demand, with a series of regular routine ‘milk runs’ providing supply services to outlying communities, supplemented by a passenger circuit schedule that operates to communities on a frequency dictated by the size of the community and its resulting demand.

Helicopter flight operations are VFR, and weather conditions can make operating extremely difficult, as Sørensen explained, “Although the H155 is IFR we don’t fly IFR, for several reasons. For one thing, our heliports are not built for IFR operations and the terrain of mountains and fiords would mean minimum altitudes would be ridiculously high, and meeting the requirements for alternates and fuel quantities would not be feasible. Although the H155 is an IFR-capable aircraft, it is not rated for flight in known icing conditions and in winter we regularly have icing, while in summer, we often have fog. In North Greenland, the sun sets in November, and you don’t see it again until February, so it’s a night-VFR operation in a winter climate for those months, and that makes it tough.” Prevailing conditions mean that delays are common, and Sørensen advised that Air Greenland takes pride in looking after its passengers, ensuring that if they are delayed, they have access to accommodation. The company takes care of all their resulting food, lodging and taxi bills. Sørensen related an instance where a passenger was delayed for 31 days. The company provided him a written statement confirming that to his wife, who was understandably suspicious about the uncommonly lengthy delay. “That’s not normal, but it can happen,” he commented.

The six new H155s each fly between 500 and 700 hours annually and are all deployed to bases around Greenland, with Sørensen advising that a seventh example provides a spare aircraft to cover maintenance and non-scheduled outages. He reported that the H155s initially suffered from several problems due to the extreme cold. The aircraft are commonly flown in winter temperatures of minus-30 to minus-40 degrees, and the cabin heater on maximum was only heating the interior to around minus-15; the cold was preventing autopilot operation because it thickened the fluids in the actuators so much that the system sensors shut down the autopilot and multiple landing gear collapses occurred due to cracking and failure of the oleo O-rings, causing the gear to sink to the bottom of the oleo travel. All those problems, however, have been addressed and resolved in collaboration with Airbus and Sørensen stated that the H155 fleet is now giving almost trouble-free service. “We’ve had very few landing gear problems recently, and aircraft have been flying for up to three months with no technical issues at all, which is impressive in this environment.” He commented that although the H155 can be performance-limited in hotter temperatures, the extreme cold of Greenland means its maximum performance is always available.

Nine H125s have been delivered to date, and the H125 fleet will eventually field thirteen examples, one of which is allocated to a scheduled government contract, while the others are utilized predominantly for charter work. “In the winter, that usually comprises medical evacuation flights or servicing the telecommunication and energy infrastructure,” stated Sørensen. “Then in the spring, we do a lot of heli-skiing, and in the summer, we get into a lot of mineral exploration, setting up camps and moving drills for mining companies.” The mining support operations involve a great deal of sling work so the H125 pilots are all highly experienced and precise at underslung load operations. Because the short summer season is light for 24 hours a day, when the weather is good the mining companies will often want the helicopters flying for 14 or 15 hours a day and will therefore hire the machine with two pilots in order to carry out the high volume of required work.

The decision to replace most of the fleet of -B3s with new H125s was made primarily for the increased endurance and payload of the newer variant. The 125s are all equipped with floats and BLR’s FastFin kit, while five also boast Swiss Rotor Services’ Maximum Pilot View Window kit. Sørensen pointed out that when flying long duty-cycles on sling work, the Max-View windows increase pilot visibility and safety, reducing fatigue. “We get an extra thirty minutes of range so there is less refueling for the pilots and they can carry more on every load, both things that the customers really want,” he noted. “When we’re investing in new aircraft, we want to get the best possible platform, future-proofing the fleet. We also want to attract the best pilots so we can offer very well-maintained equipment and a good working environment, with modern, well-equipped aircraft. We’re also gold-certified under the BARS quality management system’s risk-based model.”

Finding the best replacement for the old S61 SAR aircraft was not easy but the H225 came out as the optimal choice. The only area of concern was the type’s historic record of rotor-head issues. Still, Airbus has allayed those concerns, claiming that the cause has been well identified and the issue rectified. A key performance indicator for a SAR machine is dispatch reliability. Although two new machines were acquired to ensure the availability of a back-up, Sørensen advised that the 225 has proved to be exceptionally reliable in that regard. A recent change in the SAR operation has been the introduction of two hoist operators/rescue personnel in the cabin and Greenlandic crewmembers are now being paramedic trained so they will be able to converse with Greenlanders in their native tongue.

Surprisingly, the H225s are not equipped with a FLIR or NVGs and he explained that because the customer was happy with the service provided by the S61s, the tender document and subsequent negotiations did not specify their inclusion. The H225 was still seen as an upgrade but now FLIR and NVG capabilities are recognized as major enhancements to safety and capability, so they are being discussed for future additions to the SAR aircraft. The H225s entered Air Greenland service almost four years ago, and a four-year extension of the original four-year SAR contract with the Danish government will shortly be up for negotiation. And Sørensen pointed out that including FLIR and NVG capability in the contract extension would be a logical route to gaining those capabilities.

Almost all of the 80-odd engineers and around 50 per cent of the fixed-wing pilots are Greenlanders, but a far smaller proportion of the sixty to seventy helicopter pilots are locals due to the need to build up 1,000hrs before being eligible for a single-pilot position with the company, something that is almost impossible within Greenland. The cadre of full-time helicopter pilots is supplemented every season by a large number of ‘freelancers’ or seasonal contract pilots. To increase the cost-effectiveness and efficiency of training, Air Greenland has bought two new-technology virtual reality simulators, one for the H125 and one for the H155. A secondary role for the simulators, however, will be to enable local Greenlanders to more easily be trained locally as helicopter pilots.

AS350 pilot Herbert Knobloch has been with Air Greenland since 2015 and he commented that the switch to the H125 means a more modern aircraft that is more economical to operate, and its smaller dashboard and Max-View windows provide a much better pilot’s view. “It’s definitely an upgrade. It has ten percent more power, dual hydraulics and with those windows it’s much less fatiguing to fly.” Alexander Furst is on his second stint with the company as a seasonal pilot. Still, he would like to get a full-time position, and he cites Greenland’s natural, wild environment and variety of interesting work as the major drawcards for him, whereas his work in Norway has been predominantly sling loading. “Hopefully, I’ll end up employed full-time because I see my future here,” he stated. Norwegian Niklas Haters is a brand-new pilot to Air Greenland but has a Greenland Inuit heritage on his mother’s side. He commented that his immediate impression of the company is how thoroughly they do everything and how professional the operation is. He discussed the training regime required for new pilots before commencing operational flights. “We trained in all sorts of things necessary for this environment. Everything from putting up tents to knowing what to do when you see a polar bear. Then of course there is the flight training, both line flying and four hours emergency procedures training in the full-motion simulator,” he outlined.

All company pilots – including the instructors and chief pilot – attend spring training every year, which also gives them a chance to get together when for the rest of the year they are widely dispersed around the island. The training includes line-flying and to pass the assessment, pilots must perform to an extremely high standard but it also focuses strongly on how to cope and survive in Greenland’s remote and hostile environment. The aircraft carry flares and a liferaft, while emergency bags on board include such survival items as a tent, sleeping bags, food, a small cooker and a firearm with ammunition as there really are polar bears. Immersion suits are worn when flying as the water temperature is only around four degrees even in summer and without an immersion suit, someone falling in the water would last maybe a minute.

Swedish pilot Emil Adsten heard a lot about the company before joining Air Greenland and he said that its exceptionally good reputation was a major factor in his choosing to sign on. He pointed out that Greenland is a spectacular country, which makes working there an even more attractive opportunity, adding “Everything is so remote and you don’t get that back home in Scandinavia.” Furst, Adsten and Haters all commented that being involved in the nation’s essential infrastructure is highly satisfying. “It’s very different from Norway where you fly building materials for rich people to build their massive cabins. Here though, you feel like you’re doing something that’s more important,” said Furst, while Knobloch added, “We are the lifeline for those remote communities and that comes with a lot of responsibility as well.”

The topography and sparse population make for a more cautious approach to flights than elsewhere. As Furst pointed out, an out-landing is much more difficult when there are no roads, rough terrain and few people so the option of landing somewhere suitable to wait out some bad weather is seldom a viable option. “I had to learn to say no more often,” he remarked. “You have to sure you can safely return or safely reach your destination because the last thing you want is to be stuck out there with passengers, where the environment is very hostile.” Operational flying regularly puts the Air Greenland pilots in conditions far more challenging than many pilots elsewhere will ever experience. The ice sheet in central Greenland is the second largest in the world and climbs to around 10,000ft in the middle, but offers almost no vertical reference so flights there are extremely taxing and fatiguing.

Although the replacement program was heavily affected by the Covid pandemic, which impacted parts, technical and training support, Sørensen remarked that once Covid was largely over, the support provided by Airbus has been excellent. Looking forward, Sørensen foresees growth in two main areas but not to an extent that will result in any further fleet expansion in the short term. Firstly, an increase in tourism and heli-skiing is expected and it is largely for that reason that several of the AS350-B3s were retained alongside the fleet of new H125s. Mineral exploration work should also see steady growth as Greenland is rich in copper, nickel and rare-earth elements. “We have a lot of the stuff you need to have for the green transition and all the world is electrifying,” he commented, elaborating that it has been too expensive to explore and mine for these raw materials in the past but increased demand now makes it economically viable, hence the upsurge in mining work. Any future move to a larger twin-engine light-to-medium helicopter is most likely driven by demand from the construction industry, as Greenland is undertaking extensive large hydroelectric projects. Sørensen stated that although there is some level of demand from private and charter clients for such a machine, there is not a sufficiently large or consistent customer base to justify such an acquisition yet for that market.

Air Greenland is an integral part of Greenland society and infrastructure, so everything it does is imbued with an inherent purpose and benefits Greenland society. It is effectively the nation’s bus, taxi and ambulance service, and there is probably no other country where the entire population relies heavily on helicopters. “That’s a huge responsibility, but it also makes you want to work hard to do everything right and very proud when everything works out,” opined Sørensen.