Busy Few Days for Remote Iqaluit Airport

Remote Iqaluit Airport in Nunavut, normally only sees local flights to outlying communities, and a few daily links to the larger cities of Canada.

However, its position on the great circle route between Europe and North America saw it receive a few more unusual visitors over the past few days.

First, on 1 February, Swiss International Boeing 777-300ER HB-JND was operating a flight from Zurich to Los Angeles International when one of its engines shut down over the Atlantic following a malfunction.

As a precaution the crew decided to divert to Iqaluit instead of continuing to a larger airport such as Toronto or Ottawa.

This video shows the aircraft landing at snowy Iqaluit.

In the early hours of 2 February, Swiss International sent in an Airbus A330 aircraft from New York to rescue the stranded passengers and continue their journey to Los Angeles.

Finally, spotters at the remote Canadian airport were treated to another unusual arrival on 4 February when a giant Antonov An-124 was chartered to bring a replacement engine for the stranded Boeing 777 to Iqaluit. It arrived low and slow, landing with a trail of snow kicked up behind it and plenty of locals out to watch.

Here’s a video of it arriving