There are a limited number of international charter flights, and private jets, especially around salmon fishing season in the Alta river.

The first airport in the area was a military airfield built by the Luftwaffe in 1943, but was damaged beyond repair during World War II.

Alta Airport's regional importance increased in 1990, when it became a hub for the newly created SAS Commuter.

Alta was a central part of the German military activity during World War II, resulting in an airstrip being constructed at Elvebakken in 1943.

During 1945 the Royal Norwegian Air Force operated a seaplane route along the coast of Northern Norway, which included a stop at Alta.

[4] The municipality started lobbying the air force and the civilian aviation authorities to establish an airline route to Alta.

Specifically, they argued that both the water aerodrome at Bukta and an airfield at Altagård/Elvebakken be included in the national plans for future airports.

During the rest of the year, Alta had no airline service;[5] travel time to Oslo was then six days, largely by ship.

By 1958, the municipality had also built water and sewer pipes to the airport site and had spent 60,000 Norwegian krone on the preparatory work and purchase of land.

An alternative at Sokkelma was considered, but this was discarded because the surrounding mountains prevented good landing conditions.

By late April 1963, the airport was lacking fire fighting equipment and ground crew had still not received sufficient training.

At the beginning the airline used 56-passenger Convair CV-440 Metropolitan aircraft, which flew flights south to Oslo and westward to Lakselv and Kirkenes—and also to Tromsø starting in 1964.

[6] SAS Commuter was established in 1988 and started operations in Northern Norway in May 1990, making Alta its central hub for Finnmark.

SAS served Alta with up to ten daily services; at peak hours six aircraft were at the airport simultaneously, including two from Widerøe.

[20] Plans for expanding the 1,670-square-meter (18,000 sq ft) terminal facilities were first articulated by the Civil Airport Administration in the 1990s.

By 2005 the Civil Aviation Authority announced that the aircraft parking areas at Alta were too close to the runway and that the airport would lose its certification in 2008 unless it was upgraded.

[23] The airport is located at Elvebakken and Altagård, on the southern shore of the Altafjord and at the mouth of the river Altaelva,[5] which is about 4 kilometers (2.5 mi) east of Bossekop, in the town of Alta.

[2] Airport bus service is operated by Boreal Transport and takes ten minutes to the town centre.

[28] Scandinavian Airlines and Norwegian Air Shuttle serve the airport using Boeing 737 aircraft,[29] each providing services to Oslo.

This would severely reduce Alta's catchment area as a primary airport and could result in a reduction in Oslo flights.

[40] The Norwegian government has decided not to build the Hammerfest-Grøtnes airport, and instead improve the Alta-Hammerfest road which started 2015.