page_title: Air Greenland
section_title: 1960s
hierarchical_section_title: Air Greenland / History / 1960s
caption_attribution_description: Air Greenland Sikorsky S-61N at Kangerlussuaq Airport, Greenland.
context_page_description: Air Greenland A/S, also known as Greenlandair, is the flag carrier airline of Greenland, owned by the Greenlandic Government. It operates a fleet of 32 aircraft, including 1 airliner used for transatlantic and charter flights, 9 fixed-wing aircraft primarily serving the domestic network, and 22 helicopters feeding passengers from the smaller communities into the domestic airport network. Flights to heliports in the remote settlements are operated on contract with the government of Greenland.
  Besides running scheduled services and government-contracted flights to most villages in the country, the airline also supports remote research stations, provides charter services for tourists and Greenland's energy and mineral-resource industries and permits medivac during emergencies. Air Greenland has seven subsidiaries, an airline, hotels, tour operators, a travel agency specialised in Greenlandic tourism and the Arctic Umiaq Line, an unprofitable but government-subsidised ferry service.
context_section_description: The airline was established on 7 November 1960 as Grønlandsfly A/S, by the Scandinavian Airlines System (now SAS) and Kryolitselskabet Øresund, a Danish mining company involved with the cryolite operations at Ivittuut to provide transport and logistics for four American radar bases in Greenland. In 1962, interests in the firm were acquired by the Provincial Council (now the Greenland Home Rule Government) and the Royal Greenland Trade Department (now KNI).
  The first flights serving the American bases in Greenland operated lightweight DHC-3 Otters and Sikorsky S-55 helicopters chartered from Canada. After a crash in 1961, Grønlandsfly used PBY Catalina water planes and DHC-6 Twin Otters on domestic routes. One of the Catalinas then crashed in 1962. In 1965, the Douglas DC-4 became the line's first larger airplane. It was followed by Sikorsky S-61 helicopters, which have remained in use: in 2010, they still served the communities of Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland year-round and those of Disko Bay during the winter.
caption: The Sikorsky S-61N helicopter (pictured), acquired in 1965, is the oldest aircraft in Air Greenland's fleet.
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