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DALLAS — Welcome to a rainy April morning in Copenhagen-Kastrup (CPH). Today, Airways takes you on a rather special route with a special airline —to Kangalurssaq (SFJ) on Air Greenland (GL) in Business class.
Air Greenland's service between Copenhagen and Kangerlussaq remains a vital link, connecting the outside world to the frozen island country even today shuttling people, produce, and necessary cargo. We also get onboard the airline’s brand new A330-800 Neo named "Tuukkaq."
Flight Details : GL-781 | Copenhagen (CPH) 10:00LT Kangerlussaq (SFJ) 10:40LT | Airbus A330-800 | OY-GKN "Tuukkaq" | Flight time: 04:40
Lounge and Boarding
The ASPIRE lounge at CPH is your option if you're flying business with Air Greenland. The sleek Nordic-themed lounge by Swissport sits above the line of shopping stores at Terminal 2.
It’s rather small, limited to the bare basics options in regard to food and beverage, worth a quick grab or a round thirst quenching before flying out.
Tuukkaq was already waiting by gate B10, with the gate area full, passengers spilling over to the main corridor. Air Greenlands's A330 solely flies the Copenhagen -Kangerlussaq- Copenhagen route which forms the backbone of the airline and the aircraft is based at CPH.
The outbound flight takes off in the morning and the inbound makes it back to the Danish capital the same evening, thereafter the A330 is towed to a remote stand for the night and the process repeats. Back to today's flight, we're looking at a nearly full plane - Tuukkaq seats 305 passengers in total spilt between Business and Economy.
The New Seats on Air Greenland's A330neo
A warm greeting and I made my way to seat 2A, and the business class follows a 2-2-2 configuration with a total of 42 seats. It's to be noted that the airline calls the Business cabin " premium" although the ticket goes by Business.
The cabin however is new, neat, and welcoming. The seats are not lie-flat but come with a reasonable recline. A coat hook, bottle storage, and an individual power socket are at your disposal. Legroom was no issue.
It’s ideally not a standard business class seat but to be precise it's a slightly advanced premium economy product to draw a fair comparison. Moving back along the cabin Economy seats 263 passengers in a standard 2-4-2 config.
Let’s get to the IFE, it’s 4K, wide and responsive, and that’s the best first sign anyone wants today. There are a bunch of movies (most belonging to the well-known and classic category, not as many as new releases), music, a moving map, and a bunch of short clippings about Greenland, a good way to bring you into excitement as you head to one of the most fascinating countries in the world.
The seat pocket has your usual bunch of prints, " Suluk" being the airline's inflight magazine. A fact about Suluk - it's something that's not just found on GL's airplanes but all over the capital city of Nuuk as well - a unique move that brings about a community and culture revealing how prominent GL is to the country.
Onboard Service
Tuuqqak roared out of runway 22R in rain and made a quick right to set a great circle track to SFJ.
I was eagerly looking forward to the fur-coated menu GL used to hand out in business earlier but that’s no more. Soon enough the crew came out with a drink service.
A beer, white wine (for lunch later on), and water along with a GL savory.
About 20 minutes later, lunch was offered, and there was only one option - Braised chicken in brown sauce with mashed potatoes. The chicken itself was moist, and tender. The Appetizer refreshing with a drizzle of zest and for dessert a lovely coffee and vanilla pudding.
The food tasted great and the portion was well suited for a four-hour flight, the presentation could up a notch. I must definitely point out the warm bread roll provided, a simple and unnoticed thing that has lately been disappearing on many larger and famous airlines.
Descent to Kangerlussaq
Much of the flight had clouds below us blocking off any view of Iceland or the Atlantic and as we hit the eastern coast of Greenland, bumpiness played along.
As we moved inland the sky got clearer and on the descent, you could spend the entire time glancing at the glacier.
Mindblowing sights, from the whiteness of the glacier to the rocky ranges that followed, and we finally made a 180-degree turn and landed on RWY 09 at SFJ, which sits deep into the fjords.
Bottom Line on Air Greenland's New Premium Class
Air Greenland is an exotic airline to fly and that's something already a unique experience. The airline has been in the business for decades, with solid experience in operating the A330 in challenging weather along with a fleet of Dash 8s.
The flight was a great experience. The crew was active, polite, and catered to you often. Meal perfectly cooked and a generous portion. In my opinion, the current premium class cabin is very well designed to cater to the aircraft's only route spanning approximately four hours and the entire seat works great for this length.
But if in the near future, GL does plan to deploy Tuukkaq on a longer flight (6+ hours) the recline could be something to point out. The economy cabin also features a new modern IFE screen with meal service.
We hope you enjoyed this unique trip report. Stay tuned as Airways has more on Air Greenland for you.
Featured image and all photos: Author
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