The airport was inaugurated in October 2012,[3] but regular scheduled operations were delayed for five years due to its lack of certification from the Department of Civil Aviation of Bhutan[4] and because of funding issues.

[5] In January 2015, The Department of Civil Aviation told Kuensel that the airport had been closed to scheduled flights due to the need to construct a new terminal building and control tower.

A spokesperson said it was hoped the new structures would be completed in February 2015, and at that point, "from our side it’ll be [ready to] open to scheduled flights.

"[6] Despite this, it was reported that Drukair was unaware of the airport's reopening and stated that it would not launch commercial flights once it studied the market conditions to ensure scheduled operations were viable.

[7] In 2023, it was announced that a new international airport would be built as part of the proposed Gelephu Special Administrative Region.