[3] As of July 2017, it featured flights to more than 130 mostly European metropolitan and leisure destinations as well as two long-haul routes to Dubai and Doha.

In 1913 the site was expanded to 60 hectares, the northern part being used for airship operations while the southeast area was used for fixed-wing aircraft.

[6] When Lufthansa launched passenger operations in 1955, Hamburg was used as a hub until Frankfurt Airport took over due to growth constraints posed by its location in the city.

Among the reasons cited were limited expansion possibilities, capacity constraints due to crossing runways, and noise.

After Northwest Orient received traffic rights to serve Frankfurt they discontinued all flights to Hamburg from early 1985.

In April 1985 Pan American World Airways started a daily non-stop flight from New York JFK to Hamburg, operated with Boeing 747.

American Airlines suspended their service after a year due to shortage of aircraft after the purchase of Eastern Air Lines' South America routes, Delta upgraded the Atlanta flight to a daily non-stop service with an extension to Berlin-Tegel from May 1991, and also served New York JFK – Hamburg from November 1991 after taking over Pan Am's North Atlantic route network.

From early 1993 to late 1994 South African Airways operated flights from Cape Town via Johannesburg and Munich to Hamburg.

In the mid 90s Delta Air Lines experienced financial troubles and had to consolidate their fleet and route network.

A combination of a then too large business class in their Boeing 767-300ER aircraft and the foundation of the SkyTeam alliance made Delta cancel this service again.

[6] In January 2016, TUIfly announced it was leaving Hamburg Airport entirely due to increasing competition from low-cost carriers.

[7] A few weeks later, it was officially announced that the airport was to be named after Helmut Schmidt, a former senator of Hamburg and chancellor of West Germany.

[9] In October 2016, Air Berlin announced the closure of its maintenance facilities at the airport, due to cost-cutting and restructuring measures.

The main apron covers 320,000 m2 (3,400,000 sq ft) and features 54 parking positions; the passenger terminals provide 17 jet bridges.

As of July 2016, the airport had only three routes served with wide-body aircraft; however, during that year three gates were upgraded with double-jet bridges to provide faster boarding and de-boarding for large planes like the Airbus A380.

The Airport Plaza hosts the central security check as well as shops, restaurants, lounges and other service facilities.

[113] The airport is also linked by some local bus routes of HVV to nearby areas as well as regular coach services to the cities of Kiel and Neumünster.