The first plans for an airport serving the Sunnfjord region was in the town of Florø; construction started in 1956, but was halted.

A government commission recommended in 1964 that a primary airport be built in Florø serve the entire county.

The first alternative location proposal was for Langelandsåsen, but the site was discarded by the Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) because of poor weather conditions.

Plans were developed and in 1983 the Ministry of Transport and Communications recommended that Øyrane be closed and replaced with an all-new STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) airport at Bringeland.

Construction started in 1985 and the new airport opened on 31 August 1986, taking over all scheduled traffic from Øyrane.

[3] Widerøe started scheduled services to Oslo and Bergen, originally using de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter and the larger de Havilland Canada Dash 7 STOL aircraft, of which the latter was used for the service to Oslo.

Operating deficits were covered through various subsidies from the state, often with unclear responsibilities and little financial risk for the owners.

Most regional airports, including Førde, were nationalized in 1996 and transferred to the CAA, later renamed Avinor.

[3] Widerøe lost the public service obligation contract to fly to Florø Airport in 2000, and therefore moved its technical base for Western Norway to Førde,[6] which included a new hangar.

The flights are operated with Dash 8-100 aircraft and are subsidized as part of a public service obligation contract with the Ministry of Transport and Communications.

[12] This would allow for jetliners to operate from Florø to Oslo with significantly lower ticket prices [not likely with less than 80-120'000 citizens within 50–80 km radius] and remove the need for subsidies.