The airport offers scheduled non-stop flights to major cities in Canada, the United States, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America and Europe.

A large mural, commissioned by the Canadian government in 1963 for $18,000 titled Bush Pilot in Northern Sky by Jack Shadbolt, remains to this day.

During the 1970s, the airport experienced rapid growth in traffic as the city of Edmonton grew, and served approximately 2 million passengers by 1980.

[16] The three-phase project included the construction of the south terminal and central hall concept, a commuter facility, doubling of the apron, and a multistorey parkade.

[18] Further expansions completed in 2013 including seven new passenger gates, 14 boarding bridges, moving walkways, and advanced baggage handling and scanning systems.

The airport played a major role during the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire, operating as hubs for aerial firefighting and medical evacuation.

[20] The airport also plans to extend runway 12/30 by one-third its current length from 3,100 to 4,030 m (10,170 to 13,220 ft) to increase accessibility and capacity tied to Port Alberta Developments/Intercontinental routes.

In 1960, Canadian Pacific Airlines was operating nonstop flights to Amsterdam with Bristol Britannia turboprop aircraft several times a week.

[22] During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Pacific Western Airlines operated Boeing 707 charter flights from the airport to the UK and other destinations in Europe.

[22] CP Air then introduced Boeing 747 jumbo jet service nonstop to Amsterdam with two flights a week being operated in 1976.

[23] Earlier, in 1983, both airlines were operating wide body jetliners on their respective services to Europe with Air Canada flying Lockheed L-1011 TriStar long range series 500 model aircraft three days a week nonstop to London Heathrow while CP Air was flying 747s three days a week nonstop to Amsterdam.

[23] By 1982, Republic Airlines was operating all of its flights to the U.S. from Edmonton via an intermediate stop in Calgary with direct service to Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Spokane and Palm Springs.

[23] United Airlines operated a daily 727-100 nonstop flight to San Francisco with direct one-stop service to Los Angeles in 1983.

[23] Western Airlines operated a 727-200 nonstop to Salt Lake City in 1987 with this daily flight providing direct one stop service to Los Angeles.

[23] Also in 1999, Horizon Air began nonstop Fokker F28 Fellowship jet service to Seattle flying on behalf of Alaska Airlines on a code sharing basis.

Jet Companion aeromedical crews travel in and out of Edmonton Airport on a daily basis as part of their medical missions elsewhere in Canada, or anywhere in the world.

[59] The Edmonton Area Control Centre (ICAO: CZEG) operated by Nav Canada is located at the airport.

It is responsible for all aircraft movements over a flight information region (FIR) consisting of Alberta and most of northern Canada, including the high Arctic.

The facility, which is expected to be completed by 2018, will be over 75,000 m2 (810,000 sq ft) in area and produce more than 100,000 kg (220,000 lb) of cannabis annually.

And an official Canadian House of Commons petition was also launched by Powell on February 2, 2021, and sponsored by Mike Lake, Member of Parliament for Edmonton—Wetaskiwin.

[84] Sundog Tours provides coach service from Jasper National Park via Edmonton, Edson, and Hinton.