Nobody said it would be easy. Air Greenland has announced, that they will be unable to carry out the athletes’ flights this afternoon. This is due to continued strong winds and poor visibility. Flights from Nunavik are also affected due to the weather.

 

- We are now implementing Plan C "says Maliina Abelsen, general manager of the AWG2016.

 

- We have a group of dedicated and hard-working volunteers in Kangerlussuaq, who are working tirelessly to make ends meet there. From what we hear, spirits are high. But of course we would have preferred if everyone had arrived in Nuuk as planned for the opening ceremony, "says Maliina Abelsen.

 

- Yesterday, the weather forecast predicted that the wind and snow would have eased by noon. While the wind is decreasing, we are unfortunately expecting large amounts of snow. This means that visibility is too poor for the flight bridge to operate, and consequently, the traffic program is now postponed for 8 hours, says Niels Chemnitz Frederiksen, Head of Flight Operations at Air Greenland.

 

The Opening Ceremony is held tomorrow Sunday at 8pm in Inussivik, as previously announced.

 

- We are maintaining the time of the opening ceremony. Of course we would like to have everyone present, but it is impossible. A week ago we didn’t have enough snow. Now, the arrival of snow is somewhat inconvenient, but that’s just how it is. We are going to give it everything we’ve got for the closing ceremony, so that all participants get a great experience before going home. But we have to get started with the program now," Maliina Abelsen continues.

 

- I can only express my heartfelt gratitude to our many volunteers at all sites, to our partners in Air Greenland and the Arctic Command, and to the people in Kangerlussuaq. They are doing a tremendous job under very difficult conditions - the AWG2016 will be a blast"

 

Facts

 

After the revised plan was announced yesterday, the flight bridge was expected to start with the first flight from Kangerlussuaq at 2.00pm, arriving in Nuuk at 2.55pm. It has now been postponed for 8 hours, with the first aircraft landing in Nuuk on Saturday around 11.00pm. Flights are then expected to operate throughout the night and all of Sunday until 7.30pm, where the last flights are scheduled to arrive. Without hockey players, the flight bridge consists of around 31 flights.