Nuuk Airport helicopters continued to link Nuuk with the smaller town of Paamiut, until the airport was built there in 2007, replacing the old heliport. Nuuk Airport was built in 1979, when the then newly formed home rule government decided to create a network of the STOL-capable domestic airports. The airport in the largest city in Greenland was a priority for the government, followed by Kulusuk Airport in Kulusuk in south-eastern Greenland, and Ilulissat Airport in Ilulissat, the largest town in the Disko Bay region of western Greenland. This constituted the first such wave of network expansion. It wasn't until the 1990s
Nuuk Qoornuup Qeqertarsua. The fjord widens into a bay dotted with skerries near its mouth, opening into Labrador Sea at approximately . Some to the northeast, reaching a height of , Sermitsiaq can be seen from almost everywhere in Nuuk. The mountain has given its name to the nationwide newspaper "Sermitsiaq". Closer to the town are the peaks of Store Malene, , and Lille Malene, . The magnetic declination at Nuuk is extreme. Nuuk has a maritime-influenced tundra climate (Köppen "ET") with cold, long, snowy winters and cool, short summers. On 22 December, the shortest day and longest night of the