The airport opened in 1930 as Grand Junction Municipal Airport. In 1942 it was renamed Walker Field for Walter Walker, a former publisher of The Daily Sentinel newspaper who helped obtain funds and business support for the airport. The airport and the airport authority were renamed on May 15, 2007. Grand Junction Regional Airport is undergoing a $20 million renovation, of which $700,000 will pay for signs with the new name. The airport's terminal and fire building will continue to be named for Walker, and a new $19 million roadway under construction will be called Walter Walker Blvd. Tailwind Concessions provides food and beverages inside the terminal. A new runway will be built north of the existing one, with a target year of 2019. The present runway will become a taxiway.
Terminal
Inside the terminal, the passenger waiting area has a gift shop and TV monitors. The terminal has three gates with jet bridges for regional jets; one other gate uses outdoor airstairs. Allegiant and American Eagle flights use gate 3 while Delta uses gate 4. United uses gate 6.
Facilities
The airport covers 2,357 acres at an elevation of 4,858 feet. It has two asphalt runways: 11/29 is 10,503 by 150 feet and 4/22 is 5,501 by 75 feet. In 2018 the airport had 48,823 aircraft operations, average 134 per day: 66% general aviation, 19% air taxi, 10% airline and 5% military. On December 31, 2018, 126 aircraft were based at this airport: 107 single-engine, 15 multi-engine, 3 jet, and 1 helicopter.
Airlines and destinations
Passenger
Cargo
Destinations map
Top domestic destinations
The first airliners at Grand Junction were Monarch Douglas DC-3s in 1946-47; successor Frontier Airlines served Grand Junction until the 1980s. United Airlines Douglas DC-4s started flying LAX-LAS-GJT-DEN in 1947 and United continued that route until 1977. Nonstops from Grand Junction never reached beyond Denver, Salt Lake and Las Vegas until United started Saturday-only nonstops in the winter ski season to Los Angeles in 1969-70 and to Chicago in 1970-71. Until the 1980s GJT was the only Colorado airport west of Denver to see airline jets. In 1974-75 United Douglas DC-8s flew nonstop to Los Angeles and Chicago while Boeing 727-100s flew to San Francisco; in 1976-77 United tried nonstop 727s to Detroit and Milwaukee and in 1978-79 to Omaha and Kansas City. United also operated the Boeing 727-200 from the airport. In winter 1980-81 Grand Junction finally got a weekday United Boeing 737-200 nonstop to LAX, but United ended mainline service to GJT a few months later. The first jets at Grand Junction were Frontier Boeing 727-100s flying DEN-GJT-SLC and back starting Oct-Nov 1966. Some Frontier 727 flights flew direct to Kansas City and St. Louis. Boeing 737-200s later replaced Frontier's 727s, and their Convair 580s remained into the 1980s. In 1975-76 Frontier started weekend-only 737s to DFW during ski season. Other jet airlines at Grand Junction included Continental Airlines to Denver in the 1980s and early 1990s, flying Boeing 727-100s, 727-200s, 737-200s, Douglas DC-9-10s and DC-9-30s when Continental had a hub at Denver. Western Airlines Boeing 737-200s flew nonstop to SFO in winter 1975-76, and America West Airlines Boeing 737-200s flew nonstop to Phoenix in the 1980s. In the mid 1990s, Air 21Fokker F28 Fellowships flew nonstop to Colorado Springs and Las Vegas and direct to Los Angeles. The only mainline jets at Grand Junction now are Allegiant Air Airbus A319/320s twice a week nonstop to Las Vegas and Phoenix-Mesa - year round, and seasonal flights to Los Angeles; other airlines use regional jets.
