United Flight Returned to Newark After Greenland Security Closed

A United Airlines flight turned back to Newark after security at its destination was shut down because staff weren’t properly trained.

Tuesday’s Flight 80 took off from Newark Liberty International Airport at 11:41 a.m. and was scheduled to arrive in Nuuk, Greenland, around four hours later.

The journey appeared to be going smoothly until an hour and a half into the flight, when the Boeing 737 Max abruptly U-turned over Quebec, Canada.

It then flew back to Newark, touching down three hours and 50 minutes after taking off from there.

Unfortunately for passengers, there wasn’t a quick solution to the problem.

Greenland Airports announced that Danish authorities temporarily suspended the security screening of international passengers at Nuuk Airport.

Danish authorities said that the staff training for such screening didn’t meet requirements, it added.

The closure didn’t last long, though, as international screening reopened Thursday. A team of certified security staff flew in from Denmark to take charge.

“We know that Wednesday’s closure of Security in Nuuk has been a major inconvenience for both airlines and the affected travelers,” the airport operator said.

“We deeply regret this, and we are working intensively to ensure a good experience at our airport.”

Meanwhile, United Flight 81, from Nuuk to Newark, was canceled on Wednesday. It was scheduled to use the same 737 Max that turned around, per Flightradar24.

United only operates the route twice a week, limiting options for passengers in Nuuk to make it to the US.

The airline told The Points Guy that it was planning to operate Saturday’s flight to Nuuk as planned.

It’s also waiving change fees for flights to or from Nuuk between Tuesday and Sunday. Passengers’ new flights must take place up until next Wednesday and be between the same cities or involve Reykjavík, Iceland.

United did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent by Business Insider outside US working hours.