[3] The airport was opened in 1954 by the British RAF, an expansion program was launched shortly afterwards and by 1958 a taxiway, parking area and terminal building had been built.

[3] The airport was then modernized in the 1980s by the Siad Barre administration so as to accommodate larger aircraft and offer more flight destinations.

Egal served as Somalia's Prime Minister in the early 1960s during the country's post-independence civilian administration, before later becoming the second President of Somaliland.

[2] In June 2014, the Government of Somaliland and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) inaugurated a new wind energy project at the airport.

The new wind power facility is under the authority of the Somaliland Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, which will manage it through a public-private partnership and oversee its daily operations.