No-one likes to queue up and wait – waiting is a waste of time. It is the irritating X on the way from A to B. The worst thing about delays is the chain reaction of difficulties that can hit us, when flights do not arrive on time. Like dominoes. Even if we are not in a hurry, it is still psychologically hard to wait because time spent waiting is out of our control. Being powerless makes us irritable and impatient.

Air Greenland and all the other airlines are well aware of all the nasty things connected with an “irregularity” as it is called in airline language. The focus is on creating the best circumstances for those, who are affected by flight irregularities. And this is where Air Greenland excelsunlike many other airlines - in taking care of its customers ”for their entire journey” as director of communications and sustainability, Inga Dóra G. Markussen underlines:

In Air Greenland’s latest annual report, you can read that costs for meals and accommodation in connection with delays went from being approx. DKK 50 million to being DKK 100 million in 2022. This is a considerable expense. However, it is also a service the airline and its employees are proud of. Caring for passengers is in Air Greenland’s DNA as airline in the Arctic. It is a region where hospitality and helpfulness are a matter of course – and necessary.

It was Marilyn Monroe, who once said: “I am a calendar girl, but I am never on time”. Fortunately, this model has changed! Most of Air Greenland’s flights by far are on time. However, since Air Greenland carries out 36,500 flights a year – 20,000 flight hours – delays are unavoidable in one of the world’s most demanding regions.

The geography is both for and against us. With us, because the country is so vast and beautiful, and against us, because the weather can be so extreme. When things get hectic and cancellations spread through the route net of the world’s biggest island, the most important factors are routine, flexibility and dedicated employees, where all the links in the chain know their jobs. Plan b, plan c and sometimes plan d are checked through meticulously. The organisation is set in motion and there is something deeply fascinating about the intense work to find solutions.

- We do try to meet our passengers with a smile, even when things are hectic and critical, Inga Dóra G. Markussen

– It is a huge puzzle when there is a storm on the coast. The whole apparatus goes into action and our people start re-booking passengers and ensuring they receive new itineraries by text message and e-mail. We supplement with up-dates on Facebook. Sometimes we fly across the country to give folks a bed for the night – e.g. from Kangerlussuaq to Narsarsuaq and on to the end destination in Ilulissat the next day, explains Inga Dóra G. Markussen.

The aim is to meet passengers’ wishes, but that is not always possible.

– Travellers flying with us for the first time, logically have no insight into what we do for passengers. Those who live here know, says Inga Dóra and gives us this little, but important tip: - it is a great help if, in the event of delays, you cancel your flight if you no longer need it. It could e.g. be because you cannot get to your meeting in time. In this way, you can help another passenger to get the seat, says Inga Dóra.

2022 was an extremely difficult year for Air Greenland – but also educational. A lot of things came on top of each other. The aftershocks of corona resulted in a global shortage of aircraft parts. At the same time there was a lot of hard weather resulting in stranded passengers. This was topped by a tourist boom. In other words – the perfect storm.

– With regards to operations, 2022 was the most challenging year in our history. Many passengers experienced getting stranded and there were not enough beds for everyone, says Inga Dóra G. Markussen.

Efforts to ensure stable operations have now been improved in a series of central areas; a plan which is constantly being processed. Extra resources and capacity have been allocated. There have been both big investments and simple initiatives.

– We acquired an extra Dash 8 aircraft and a H155-helikopter as back-up, so we are less vulnerable. We have also acquired a number of fine cots and sleeping bags, so we have extra capacity in Kangerlussuaq and Ilulissat, while Mittarfeqarfiit, Greenland’s airport authority that handles our passengers in Kulusuk, has acquired more cots. We would like to offer passengers a hotel bed, but in the peak season there is not always available capacity, Inga Dóra.

– So there may not be enough food and people have to go hungry?

– There is not always the same standard everywhere. In some places, it might be a so-called TV dinner, or microwave food, curry and that kind of thing. In other places it could be a nice menu in a fine hotel, adds Inga Dóra with a smile.

– Can you understand why people get angry when there are delays?

– It is certainly regrettable. They need to know that the organisation moves heaven and earth. However, we are not master of all the conditions when we fly in the Arctic.

– We do try to meet our passengers with a smile, even when things are hectic and critical. And fortunately we get a lot of smiles back. This helps to ease the pressure on everyone. We are in the thick of the situation together with our guests and we do our best, answers Inga Dóra G. Markussen, who has been Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) with Air Greenland since August. It is her goal that there be more transparency than previously with regard to Air Greenland, so that passengers – and stake holders – gain a deeper understanding of the company’s mission, challenges, plans and solutions.