Air Greenland has stopped the sale of airline tickets in July.

The government-owned carrier was forced to make the decision after low clouds and fog played havoc with its flight schedule in recent days.

The airline said more than 1000 passengers who should have left the country over the weekend, were left stranded after the weather caused disruptions.

In a statement on its website, the operator said: “The weather forecast does not look too good and therefore Air Greenland has closed for the sale of airline tickets to and from the west coast for the rest of July.”

The closure impacts airports in the west of the country. Tickets to and from Nerleriit Inaat are not affected.

The statement continued: “Due to low clouds and fog along the coast and especially in Nuuk where the Dash-8 aircraft are based, [it] has only been possible to implement the traffic programs later in the day, creating an accumulation of passengers and cargo.

“To address that challenge, Air Greenland has chosen to close for ticket sales for the reminder of July.”

Jacob Nitter Sørensen, Air Greenland’s chief executive, said: “Air Greenland is vulnerable at this time. We do not provide the service we have set out for, and we must therefore resort to closing the sale. That way, we can utilise the remaining capacity when delays occur. The fog and low clouds tease us so much that today's planned programs are postponed and when it happens several days in a row, we get a large accumulation of passengers.”

The airline is currently working on new schedules for the affected flights. Updated itineraries will be sent as soon as possible.

Air Greenland operates an eight-strong fleet comprising seven De Havilland Canada DHC-8-200s and a single Airbus A330-200.

The European-built widebody is due to be replaced by a next-generation A330-800 – which was ordered in December 2020 – later this year.