[4] The airport is named after Honolulu native and Medal of Honor recipient Daniel Inouye, who represented Hawaii in the United States Senate from 1963 until his death in 2012.

[9] It was funded by the territorial legislature and the Chamber of Commerce, and was the first full airport in Hawaii; aircraft had previously been limited to small landing strips, fields, and seaplane docks.

[10] Qantas introduced these jet flights with Boeing 707 aircraft operating a routing of Sydney – Fiji – Honolulu – San Francisco.

[11] Aeronautical engineer and airline consultant Frank Der Yuen advised in the design of the original building and founded its aerospace museum.

Pan Am flight number 1, operating a 707, flew a westbound routing of San Francisco – Honolulu – Wake Island – Tokyo – Hong Kong and continuing on to New York City via stops in Asia and Europe.

Pan Am also had direct 707 flights from Honolulu to Calcutta, Guam, Jakarta, Karachi, Manila, Rangoon, Saigon, and Singapore in 1960.

[19] British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines (BCPA) began serving the airport during the mid-1940s with Douglas DC-4 aircraft flying a routing of Sydney – Auckland – Fiji – Canton Island – Honolulu – San Francisco – Vancouver, B.C.

By 1981, Western was operating one-stop McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 service from London Gatwick Airport via a polar route with a stop in Anchorage.

[29][30] By the mid-1970s Pan Am offered nonstop service from Honolulu to Japan, Guam, Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji, as well as to cities on the West Coast.

[31] Continental Airlines used Honolulu as a stopover point for charter service to Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War era, and to feed its Guam-based Air Micronesia operation.

Air Micronesia had service to Guam via stops at Midway Island, Kwajalein, Majuro, Ponape, (now Pohnpei) and Truk (now Chuuk State) flying a Boeing 727-100.

[38][39] BOAC served Honolulu as part of its around the world services during the 1960s and early 1970s, first with Bristol Britannia turboprop airliners and later with Boeing 707 and Vickers VC10 jets.

[14] A 2007 retrospective book on Ossipoff's architecture noted that his terminal design was "facing the challenges of new standards of accessibility, comfort, and security", and was therefore likely to be altered or obliterated in the near future.

[49] The plan involves implementing short-term projects within the first five years to improve passenger service and increase security and operational efficiencies.

[50] As part of the modernization, flight display monitors throughout the airport were upgraded, new food and beverage vendors were added, and a new parking garage across from the international arrival terminal was completed.

An international arrivals corridor with moving sidewalks built atop the breezeway leading to the Ewa Concourse was completed in 2010.

[52] By 2012, Hawaiian Airlines was re-establishing Honolulu International Airport as a connecting hub between the United States mainland and the Asia-Pacific region.

[54] During the 2016 legislative session, the Hawaii state legislature passed a resolution requesting that the U.S. Department of Transportation rename Honolulu International Airport for the late U.S. senator and Medal of Honor recipient Daniel Inouye.

After years of delays, the state airports division broke ground on the Mauka Concourse in Terminal 1 on May 30, 2018, and completed construction on August 26, 2021.

The 1.8 million square foot five-story facility is a short walk from Terminal 2 baggage claim and is also served by a consolidated shuttle bus service.

[70][71] Two 3-jetway gates to handle an Airbus A380 were added to the terminal in 2018; this was done to support All Nippon Airways's A380 flights between Tokyo's Narita Airport and Honolulu.

Route 20 connects the airport to the Hālawa Skyline Station at Aloha Stadium, Downtown Honolulu, Ala Moana Center, and Waikiki.