First direct flight from US to Greenland since 2008 lands on Trump's birthday
NUUK, Greenland, June 15, (AP): The first direct flight from the US to Greenland by an American airline landed in the capital city of Nuuk on Saturday.
The United Airlines-operated Boeing 737 Max 8 departed from Newark International Airport in New Jersey at 11:31 a.m. EDT (1531 GMT) and arrived a little over four hours later, at 6:39 p.m. local time (1939 GMT), according to the flight-tracking website FlightAware.
A seat cost roughly $1,200. Saturday's flight marks the first direct passage between the US and the Arctic Island for nearly 20 years. In 2007, Air Greenland launched a route between Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport and Kangerlussuaq Airport, some 315 kilometers (196 miles) north of Nuuk. It was scrapped the following year due to cost.
Warren Rieutort-Louis, a 38-year-old passenger from San Francisco, decided to visit Nuuk for just one night to be a part of the historic flight.
'I've been to Greenland before, but never this way around. I came the other way through Europe, so to be able to come straight is really amazing,' Rieutort-Louis said after the plane landed.
The United Airlines flight took place on US President Donald Trump's 79th birthday, which was being celebrated in Washington with a controversial military parade that's part of the Army's long-planned 250th anniversary celebration. Trump has repeatedly said he seeks control of Greenland, a strategic Arctic island that's a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, and has not ruled out military force.
The governments of Denmark, a NATO ally, and Greenland have said it is not for sale and condemned reports of the U.S. stepping up intelligence gathering on the mineral-rich island. United announced the flight in October, before Trump was re-elected. It was scheduled for 2025 to take advantage of the new Nuuk airport, which opened in late November and features a larger runway for bigger jets.
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