[1] It is surrounded by the city of Cayce and the towns of Springdale, Pine Ridge, and South Congaree.

In 1940 the United States Army Air Corps indicated a need for the airfield as part of the buildup of its forces after World War II began in Europe.

One of the earliest units to train at Columbia AAB was the 17th Bombardment Group, which arrived on 9 February 1942.

When the group arrived in Columbia its combat crews were offered the opportunity to volunteer for an "extremely hazardous" but unspecified mission which ultimately turned out to be the famous Doolittle Raid on Japan.

It was inactivated by the U.S. Army Air Forces on 30 November and returned to civil authorities, which converted it back to an airport.

The 350th Bombardment Squadron was assigned to Columbia Metropolitan Airport on 16 July 1947 as part of the Air Force Reserve, but it was never equipped or manned; it was inactivated on 27 June 1949.

Delta began flights from Columbia to Charleston, Asheville, Jacksonville, Augusta, Savannah and New York–La Guardia.

Piedmont Airlines introduced nonstop service to Miami in January 1980, but dropped Columbia in June 1980 leaving only Delta and Eastern for a time.

United Express (operated by Atlantic Coast Airlines) entered the market May 24, 1999 with service to Washington–Dulles and added Chicago–O'Hare on July 1, 2000.

On October 30, 2005, American Eagle returned after a nine-year absence with service to Dallas/Fort Worth after Delta closed their DFW hub earlier that year.

In 2015 United Airlines CEO Jeff Smisek was forced to step down after it was revealed that he had continued to run an unprofitable route to the airport from Newark Liberty International Airport for former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey chairman David Samson.

[3] On June 7, 2018 American Airlines restored mainline service to Columbia with two daily nonstop flights to Dallas/Fort Worth.

For the year ending February 22, 2022 the airport had 63,338 aircraft operations, an average of 174 per day: 46% general aviation, 23% air taxi, 23% airline and 8% military.

[7] Since the late 1980s, capital improvements have been undertaken, including a renovated and expanded terminal, a new parking garage (completed in 2003), the lengthening of the runways, and better interstate access.

Free wireless internet service is provided throughout the airport as well as small number of recharge stations with access to outlets.