Iqaluit Airport - Other Information

Other Information

Multiple flights have been diverted to Iqaluit Airport due to passenger medical emergencies. On 31 May 1996, Virgin Atlantic flight 7 from London to Los Angeles made an emergency landing at Iqaluit after a passenger had a heart attack. The landing was executed safely - the first Boeing 747 ever to attempt to land at Iqaluit - but one of the 747's engines hit a fuel pump on the tarmac as it was taxiing, causing serious damage to the aircraft and a potentially dangerous fuel spill. The 397 stranded passengers, including singer Gary Barlow, were flown out after Virgin Atlantic chartered two jets. The passengers, after spending 16 hours in a local curling rink, were taken to New York to catch connecting flights to Los Angeles. Prince Michael of Kent, who had also been on the flight, was given a Royal Canadian Mounted Police escort and departed on an earlier scheduled flight. The original aircraft had its engines repaired and left four days after the accident. The heart-attack victim survived.

There is a persistent but false rumour that Iqaluit Airport is one of the emergency landing sites for NASA's Space Shuttle, due to the length of its runway and its geographic location. This can easily be disproved by noting that Iqaluit's runway is less than 9,000 ft (2,743 m) long.

The Airbus A380, the world's largest passenger jet, conducted cold weather testing from Iqaluit Airport during February 2006 - its first North American visit. They were hoping to experience −25 °C (−13 °F) weather to determine the effects on cabin temperatures and engine performance. Nunavut authorities hope that the importance of this test will put Iqaluit on the map as a centre for cold-weather testing.

In December 2005 the Government of Nunavut announced that they would spend $40 million to repair the runway, build a new emergency services facility and a new terminal.

In January 2012 Air Greenland announced that a 1 hour 45 minute flight from Nuuk to Iqaluit, down from three days when going via Copenhagen or Reykjavik and then on to Ottawa, would begin 18 June 2012, later changed to 15 June. The service will be in partnership with First Air who will provide ticketing and other services in Iqaluit. This is the first international flight into Iqaluit since 2001 when First Air discontinued their Iqaluit to Kangerlussuaq flights. Air Greenland have stated they will be using Dash 8 aircraft on the run and a one way flight is expected to cost about $748 or kr 4.300.