‘Mechanical issue’ forces Vegas-bound Southwest flight to divert, land on Oahu

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - A Southwest flight heading to Las Vegas from Kona was diverted after an apparent on-board emergency.

Flight 304 took off Sunday morning and was forced to turn around to Oahu after reports of smoke in the cockpit along with an oxygen issues, sources with the company said.

In a statement, Southwest said, “Out of an abundance of caution, the Pilot in Command of Flight 304 from Kona to Las Vegas made the decision to divert to Honolulu to check out a potential mechanical issue. The 170 Customers and Crew of six continued on a different aircraft to Las Vegas. There’s no greater priority to us than the Safety of our Customers and Employees.”

The plane had to dump fuel on their way in to Oahu in order to safely land, sources added. The aircraft was greeted by emergency crews at the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport.

No injuries were reported.