It was largely destroyed during the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945, but was used during the occupation of Japan as a radar base by the Royal Australian Air Force 111 Mobile Fighter Control Unit, and through the 1950s as a landing field for gliders and single-engine piston aircraft.

[2] Following the end of World War II, the Japanese government approved a plan for a new airport in a location which could take advantage of Hiroshima's natural river topography to keep aircraft from flying over residential areas.

J-Air was based at Hiroshima–Nishi from 1991 until 2005, originally as a division of the JAL Flight Academy, and provided commuter service to domestic airports using Jetstream 31 and then Bombardier CRJ-200 aircraft.

City officials sought to keep the airport open in order to boost the city's economy, while prefectural officials preferred converting the southern part of the property into a heliport and building an extension of the Hiroshima South Road through the northern part.

From 2014, there was a strictly limited daily time window for helicopter services to be operated out of the former airport.