Weather diverts Southwest Airlines jet to GJ; delays flights to Denver

By Paul Shockley
Saturday, February 9, 2013

Snowy weather elsewhere this morning forced a Southwest Airlines 737 jet to divert and land at Grand Junction Regional Airport while weather was blamed for delays on other flights, an airport official said.

The Southwest flight, which took off from Baton Rouge, La., landed in Grand Junction at 9:39 a.m. as conditions at Yampa Valley Regional Airport in Hayden prevented a scheduled landing there, according to Amy Jordan, deputy director of administration at the Grand Junction airport. Passengers were deplaned, before boarding again and leaving 70 minutes later for Hayden, Jordan said.

Three of the airport’s regular flights to Denver today were also delayed 30 to 45 minutes because of poor Front Range weather conditions, Jordan said.