[1] Its airfield was previously known as Aslito (during the Japanese South Seas Mandate) and Isely Field (during the American World War II and later period).

[citation needed] The airfield was captured by the United States Army 27th Infantry Division on June 18, 1944, during the Battle of Saipan.

[5] Once in American hands, Isely Field was quickly repaired and expanded by Seabees of the 3rd Battalion 20th Marines, to become Naval Advance Base Saipan.

The XXI Bomber Command was assigned the task of destroying the aircraft industry of Japan in a series of high-altitude, daylight precision attacks.

[citation needed] After several months of disappointing high level bombing attacks from Isely (and the other Twentieth Air Force airfields on Guam and Tinian), General Curtis LeMay, Commander of Twentieth Air Force issued a new directive that the high-altitude, daylight attacks be phased out and replaced by low-altitude, high-intensity incendiary raids at nighttime, being followed up with high explosive bombs once the targets were set ablaze.

These nighttime attacks on Japan proved devastatingly effective, and the Superfortress missions from Isely Field led to massive destruction of industrial targets in Japan, with large industrial areas of Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka being repeatedly attacked by waves of American bombers flying from the Marianas until the war's end.

[citation needed] Saipan International Airport commenced operation on July 25, 1976, taking over from the nearby Kobler Field.

Delta cited lower demand, as well as needs for additional Boeing 757 aircraft on domestic US flights, as reasons for the withdrawal.

[1][20] For the 12-month period ending January 31, 2022, the airport had 27,875 aircraft operations, an average of 76 per day: 28% general aviation, 69% air taxi, 3% scheduled commercial and <1% military.