The Hunan Provincial Government proposed the construction of a new airport in October 1984, which was approved by the State Council of China.

[5][6] On 28 October 2000, the 34,000 m2 (370,000 sq ft) Terminal 1-A, which cost 40.4 million CNY, was opened.

The airport welcomed its first intercontinental destination when China Southern Airlines began service to Frankfurt, Germany on 23 June 2014.

On 16 May 2018, the renovated Terminal 1 of the Changsha Huanghua International Airport resumed operation.

After renovation, Terminal 1 has 39,000 square metres (420,000 sq ft) of space, 38 check-in counters, 10 security lanes and 10 aerobridges.

The new terminal has 22 bridge gates, to which the longest passenger walking distance is within 300 metres (980 ft).

With this new facility, the airport can handle 151,000 aircraft movements and another 15.6 million passengers every year.

The departure hall has four automatic double-glass-door entrances which are directly facing check-in areas A, B, C, & D respectively.

The terminal has 80 check-in counters and 24 self-checkin kiosks, 24 security checkpoints and more than 6,390 seats.

Changsha Huanghua Int'l airport will become a major hub in China which hosts a number of based airlines.