In the mid-1930s, the airport (enlarged and now called Aeroporto Civile di Asmara-Umberto Maddalena[1]) began offering civilian and commercial flights.

A regular Kassala-Khartoum-Asmara-Massawa 770 km commercial route was subsequently started with a Caproni 133 of the Italian Ala Littoria.

[4] In April 2003, after improvements to the airport's runways, Eritrean Airlines started regular services between Asmara and Frankfurt, Milan, Nairobi and Rome.

[6] In 2018, after renewed relations with Ethiopia, the airport started accepting flights from Addis Ababa for the first time since the war.

In July 2024, the Eritrean Civil Aviation Authority ordered Ethiopian Airlines to suspend flights to Eritrea by September, citing "consistent and persistent malicious trading practices [and] systemic and organized passengers' luggage theft, pilferage, damage prolonged delays, and loss with no compensation in particular, coupled with unjustified and unwarranted price hikes and other irregularities witnessed."

This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency Media related to Asmara International Airport at Wikimedia Commons