[8] In 1977, the airport was sanctioned due to long periods of struggle under the leadership of the late freedom fighter, K. P. Kesava Menon.

In the 1990s, Gulf Malayalis played an important role in the development of the airport - they collected funds for the purpose when the Union Government claimed it did not have any.

As a result, Emirates, Saudia and two Air India Boeing 747 flight operations had to move temporarily to Cochin International Airport during this time.

[13] As of November 2020, the airport does not have the recommended Runway safety area or Engineered Materials Arresting System installed.

[13] As advocated by various Malayali associations like KMCC, MCC and MDF and others, Gulf Malayalis, political parties, Kerala State Government and MPs from Malabar region, on 9 August 2018, DGCA gave approval for resuming wide-body aircraft (Code E category) operations from Calicut International Airport.

[14][15] After three and a half years, the wide-body aircraft (Airbus 330-300) of Saudi Arabian Airlines from Jeddah landed at Calicut International Airport at 11:04 (IST) on 5 December 2018.

As a result, wide-body aircraft are no longer permitted to fly to Kozhikode Airport, and as of 7 July 2022, runway renovation is in progress.

This combined road network enables seamless connectivity to the north to Kozhikode, Kannur, and Wayanad, and towards the south to Malappuram, Kondotty, Palakkad, Thrissur, and Coimbatore.

Kerala State Road Transport Corporation operates FlyBus (low-floor air con bus) services to the city of Kozhikode from the airport.