Greenland is about to open up to adventure-seeking visitors. How many tourists will come is yet to be seen, but the three new airports will bring profound change. Greenland's capital is a tiny city with big plans.
Large aircraft will soon be able to touch down here after the new Nuuk International Airport officially opens on 28 November. There'll be direct flights from Copenhagen, and, by June, twice weekly connections from New York. It's the first of three airport projects – costing more than $800m (£615m) – intended to fling this Arctic territory wide open to travellers.
Spanning more than two million square kilometres, the world's largest island exists on a scale so vast it's hard to conceive. Only 11 countries are bigger – and it surpasses both Texas and Alaska in size – yet its population numbers fewer than 57,000. At its frozen heart is an ice sheet that covers 80% of its land mass.
When I visited in August from Copenhagen, the ground crunched beneath my boots as I made my way over rocky glacial moraine onto the edge of this endless icy expanse that stretched beyond the misty horizon. Both mighty and magical, it was a humbling reminder of the awesomeness of nature. Hours earlier, I'd touched down at Kangerlussuag Airport.
Up until now, the remote cluster of prefabricated buildings in Greenland's desolate, wild west has been the country's main entry point, and most international visitors will have landed here. Built during World War Two, the former American airb.
