The transportation system in Greenland is very unusual in that Greenland has no railways, no inland waterways, and virtually no roads between towns.
There are 150 km (90 mi) of roads in the whole country; 60 km (40 mi) of the roads are paved. Two towns are connected by a 4.5km road, Ivittuut and Kangilinnguit; the rest are isolated. Historically the major means of transportation has been by boat around the coast in summer and by dog sled in winter, particularly in the north and east. There are ports at Ilulissat, Kangerlussuaq (also known by its Danish name Søndre Strømfjord), Qaqortoq, Narsaq, Nuuk (Godthåb), Aasiaat and Sisimiut. Several other towns have also small ports. The only two users of the harbors are Royal Arctic Line and Arctic Umiaq Line.
While Germany occupied Denmark during World War II, the United States controlled Greenland and built airports there. The airports were codenamed Bluie West One through to Bluie West Eight on the west of the island and Bluie East One to Bluie East Four on the eastern side.
The largest of those airports, Bluie West Eight, now renamed Kangerlussuaq Airport, remains the international hub for travel to Greenland, as it is the only airport that has a large enough runway to service jumbo jets. American authorities at one time entertained the idea of building a road from Kangerlussuaq to the second largest airport, in Narsarsuaq, several hundred kilometres (miles) to the south. The idea was abandoned after feasibility studies failed to prove it was possible.
Greenland now has 18 airstrips, 14 of which are paved. All domestic flights are operated by Air Greenland. The name was anglicized in 2002 from the Danish Grønlandsfly (Greenlandair in English). International flights are limited to four weekly flights from Copenhagen to Kangerlussuaq.
Air Iceland fly from Reykjavík to Narsarsuaq. It offers also "day trips to the wilderness" from Reykjavík to Kulusuk on the east coast. Air Iceland flies to Ittoqqortoormiit over Kulusuk once or twice a week throughout the year. Flights from Reykjavik are flown throughout the year. Also, year-round flights from Reykjavik to Ilulissat will be offered after April 2011.
In 2009 Air Greenland reportedly was interested in starting a route from Iqaluit to Nuuk. Currently only charter flights operate this route.[1]
Historically, special purpose narrow gauge railways, such as that in the village of Qoornoq in the Nuuk fjord, have operated. The Qoornoq railway was used for transporting fish from the harbour to scaffolds for drying.[2] The railway was abandoned shortly before the village.
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