[4] The airport is a federally designated port of entry for civil aircraft arriving in the United States.

The airport was built by the United States Navy during World War II to test defogging systems.

[8][9] In December 1947 a Southwest Airways Douglas DC-3 made the world's first blind landing by a scheduled commercial airliner using Ground-Controlled Approach (GCA) radar, Instrument Landing System (ILS) and Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operation (FIDO) oil-burners next to the runway.

[12] In the year period ending May 31, 2019, the airport had 42,174 aircraft operations, average 116 per day: 61% military, 25% general aviation, and 14% airline.

operated by SkyWest Airlines flying as United Express on a code sharing basis on behalf of United Airlines with three or four nonstop flights per day to SFO on Canadair CRJ-200 and Embraer 175 regional jets as well one nonstop flight per day to both LAX and Denver International Airport.

[17] Avelo added service to Las Vegas Harry Reid International Airport in November 2021.