Everyone in the Arctic knows. The weather can be very unpredictable, but at least it always gives us something to talk about. When it comes to flying, the weather forecasts from DMI are a necessary tool and a sharp eye is held on the prognoses. Every morning, all year round, a group of dedicated and experienced Air Greenland employees gathers for the daily operations meeting to take a closer look at the data for the coming 24 hours.

– We have a template that we follow. We go through the weather at all the stations and designate it green, yellow or red, explains OperationsControl-Manager Niels Chemnitz Frederiksen, known as Nuunu.

Readers have probably guessed that green means no problems. Yellow stands for doubtful conditions and a plan b is made. Red means that plans are changed immediately.

– Does yellow end more often in red or in green?

– That varies a lot, particularly in the winter. When the wind drops, you never know what kind of precipitation is hiding behind the front, answers Chemnitz Frederiksen.

Weather observations deal obviously both with arrivals and departures. Furthermore, a pilot’s flight plans include one, and sometimes two, destination alternate airports which can be used for landing one hour before and one hour after the scheduled landing time. Iqaluit in Canada and Kulusuk in East Greenland can be used as alternative airports if necessary when the weather acts up on the west coast.

– Cancellations and delays can be difficult to understand for a passenger who is standing in a terminal where the weather looks fine. But we make plans based on the entire weather situation. We do not bend the rules and we never compromise, underlines Nuunu and adds that the team is in constant telephone contact with DMI´s meteorologists to acquire details and to have a direct dialog about special points for attention.

The decisions made at the operations meeting could be major. – We react on a factual, informed basis and that makes the team feel safe, says Nuunu. Pressure from the outside world can be heavy from time to time, when the weather paralyzes traffic for a longer period. But there is no room for hesitation. There must be complete compliance with the standards.

– All locals are aware of the weather conditions. And everyone understands why cancellations can be necessary, notes Nuunu with a little sigh: This understanding disappears in some people the moment the weather clears up and we are able to fly. It is hard to understand that it can take several days to get everything cleared up and get everyone on their respective flights.

– Does anyone get to the front of the line?

– We work on the principle that people are to take the flight they booked. This is why we don’t change what was planned. Passengers who have lost their seats due to a cancellation do not go to the front of the line. They have to wait for available seats. Otherwise there would be chaos that no-one could sort out. This is a sound, sensible principle despite the fact that it can be frustrating for the individual.

Other factors than the weather can lead to delays. For example, pilots depend on moonlight in the dark months. When the moon is behind cloud cover, or there is a new moon, it can lead to helicopter cancellations, in particular north of the Polar Circle. In Europe the navigation equipment on the ground is better. In Greenland there are remote areas where there is no light to use for navigation.

– We are not permitted to fly in total darkness, because there is no navigation equipment on the ground. We need moonlight and the so-called “lux” value must be above a certain limit, explains Chemnitz Frederiksen about the regulations that are laid down by the Civil Aviation Authorities.

Moonlight brightness – in technical language “Lux” – must be above 20,000 milli lux. A series of other significant factors are also “scanned” at the daily meeting in Nuuk.

– We discuss whether we have back-up capacity, the status of the aircraft, whether airports are open and if, for example, we lack a snow-plough.

– What are the greatest stress factors in your job?

– They are when one day everything is green and then the next day we wake up to red. On the other hand, the days where we catch a storm on Monday and then calmly and easily can cancel traffic are good for everyone. The passengers do not need to waste time coming to the airport and that gives us an easier time of it. We are, however, ready to handle both scenarios. We are used to it. It is in our DNA to be flexible, says Niels Chemnitz Frederiksen.