[1] Bintulu Airport was officially inaugurated by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on December 19, 2002.

Bintulu's old airport was open for operation on 1 September 1955, with a grass-surface runway catering for de Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide and Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer aircraft operated by Borneo Airways.

In 1966, the runway was resurfaced with bitumen, and the terminal building was extended to cater for an increasing number of passengers.

[3] In September 2005, the first low-cost airline in Malaysia, AirAsia, started operating in Bintulu airport.

FlyAsianXpress (FAX), a subsidiary company of AirAsia, took over major domestic routes linking Bintulu.