Ilulissat and icebergs are connected. The icebergs have given the city its name, its history and a whole lot of tourists. It will be easier for them to get to the city after the opening of the new Atlant airport on Thursday 29 October.
But the icebergs have also been given a place in the airport’s security procedures. Already during the design of the airport, the Swedish Transport Agency demanded monitoring of the icebergs and special precautions.
Ilulissat and icebergs are connected. The icebergs have given the city its name, its history and a whole lot of tourists. It will be easier for them to get to the city after the opening of the new Atlant airport on Thursday 29 October.
But the icebergs have also been given a place in the airport’s security procedures. Already during the design of the airport, the Swedish Transport Agency demanded monitoring of the icebergs and special precautions.
– If there should exceptionally be icebergs in the fjord that break the barrier surfaces, special safety measures will be implemented, says head of office in the agency Doris Tranbjerg Jørgensen.
The obstacle surfaces set limits on how high something can rise around the airport. For example, an iceberg.
– Ilulissat’s many icebergs generally do not pose an obstacle to aviation, as they are normally below the obstacle surfaces for the airspace that must be free for planes to land and take off safely from the airport, says Doris Tranbjerg Jørgensen.
But the situation has been thought about in advance, before a particularly high iceberg comes floating towards the new 2,200 meter runway.
Therefore, if necessary, an iceberg near Ilulissat Airport can have its height checked.
– Based on this, Greenland Airports has established procedures for monitoring the icebergs and can, if necessary, carry out precise height measurements with a so-called theodolite – a surveying instrument used, among other things, for height measurements, says Doris Tranbjerg Jørgensen.
– In this way, the airport can assess whether the icebergs constitute an obstacle that requires changes in air traffic to and from the airport, she says.
The Danish Transport Agency also informs that the monitoring and handling of the icebergs is included in the safety review prior to the approval of the new airport.
Here, the agency checks, among other things, whether the airport has the necessary procedures to detect and handle the risk that the icebergs can cause.
