[6] Being opened on 7 February 1964 as a naval air base of Indonesia, it replaced the previous airport in Morokrembangan, near Surabaya harbor.

It was originally used as home base for Indonesian Navy's fleet of Ilyushin Il-28 and Fairey Gannet.

Previously, since December 1987, the airport has served flights to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Taipei and Manila.

[9] On 25 February 2015, Indonesia President Joko Widodo agreed to develop Juanda Airport City, including an additional two runways and an integrated connection between Gubeng railway station and the airport via an elevated railway.

[13] Construction of two runways by will require the reclamation of about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) stretch of land along Java's northern coastline.

The terminal used a mix of high hat roofs from Rumah adat Sumba as well as Java-Malay architecture themes.

[citation needed] In 2010, the airport handled 11 million passengers, although the capacity was 6 million passengers and the air traffic controller radar system is only able to track 21 aircraft per hour, but at peak hour handled 40 to 45 aircraft landing and taking off.

In addition to this, it is noted that, in 2006, the domestic sector between Surabaya and Jakarta was the fourth-busiest air route in Asia, with over 750 weekly flights.

Fixed tariff taxis are available to various destinations in Surabaya and surrounding areas including Malang, Blitar, Jember, and Tulungagung.