While the authority owned a small airport in the Polo Flat industrial area where it based its fleet of light aircraft, the new facility was built to support commercial services for the surrounding region and handle large turboprop airliners such as the Vickers Viscount.

[3] During her 1963 visit to Australia, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh arrived and departed from the airport while touring works on the Snowy Mountains Scheme.

[3] By May of that year, Cooma airport was the second busiest in New South Wales by passenger numbers, prompting the Department of Civil Aviation to establish a permanent Flight Information Service and fire station on the field.

[8] After struggling to maintain a regular airline service to fund upkeep of the facilities, the Snowy River Shire sold the airport to a private operator in 2004 for $500,000.

For the 2021 winter season, QantasLink added 15,000 additional seats on the Sydney-Cooma route,[citation needed] and for the first time introduced direct services between Brisbane and Cooma using Bombardier Q400 turboprops.

This code 2C runway is suitable for aircraft up to De Havilland Dash 8 size and is equipped with Precision approach path indicators and pilot-operated lighting for night operations.