[1] The airport is located in the town of Palaly near Kankesanthurai, 7 nautical miles (13 km; 8 mi) north of the city of Jaffna.

These ventures and cooperative efforts work in tandem to reinforce the well-established people-to-people connections that exist between India and Sri Lanka.

[3] During World War II the British Royal Air Force built an airfield on 145 ha (359 acres) of land in Palaly near Kankesanthurai in northern Ceylon.

[4][13] On 5 October 1987 around a dozen members of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), whom the Sri Lankan military were going to fly to Colombo to face criminal charges related to killing rival Tamil militants, committed suicide on the tarmac at Palaly airport by consuming cyanide capsules.

[17][18][19] In 1989, as the IPKF were preparing to withdraw from Sri Lanka, paramilitaries belonging to Indian backed groups such as the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front escaped to Colombo via Palaly airport.

After the Valikamam was recaptured by the Sri Lankan military in 1995 the airport served as a vital link to the rest of the country as the land route was controlled by the LTTE.

[4] The SLAF's Helitours arm provided civilian flights using aircraft and crew leased from the former Soviet Union.

[7] Lionair started operating flights for civilians between Palaly and Ratmalana in August 1996, taking over from the SLAF, and doubled fares.

[33][34] In 2014 Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP Mavai Senathirajah, who is from nearby Maviddapuram, appealed to the Indian consul in Jaffna to upgrade Palaly Airport.

[4] The agreement met with resistance from civil servants in Colombo who feared that any development of the north would be at the expense of the south.

[4] Some Tamil politicians also opposed the plans, claiming that any development of the airport would result in further acquisition of civilian land.

[4] By late 2018 Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's minority government had become reliant on TNA support to stay in power.

[4] The CAA agreed to give permission on condition that Palaly only serves as a regional airport (i.e. no long-haul flights) and that any Indian financial assistance would in the form of grants rather than loans.

[41][42] The state-owned Airport and Aviation Services (AAS) were responsible for constructing the control tower, terminal building, fire brigade facilities, office complex and air navigation systems.

[47][48] The arrival of an Alliance Air ATR 72-600 aircraft from Chennai carrying airline officials and journalists signalled the inauguration of Sri Lanka's third international airport.

[50][51] Alliance Air was expected to run scheduled flights from Chennai to Jaffna three times a week from 1 November 2019.

[53][54] The Sri Lankan government has stated that the airport would also have flights to other Indian destinations - Bangalore, Cochin, Hyderabad and Mumbai.