The airport is situated 7 nautical miles (13 km; 8.1 mi) east[1] of the town of Kärdla on Hiiumaa island.

During the next years there was fairly high activity at the airport, with regular flights to Tallinn, Haapsalu, Vormsi, Kuressaare, Riga, Pärnu, Viljandi, and Tartu, and charter flights to Murmansk, Vilnius, and Kaunas.

Air traffic sank dramatically after Estonia became independent in 1991, and in 1995, only 727 passengers traveled via the airport.

The airport has annual Flight Days in the first weekend of August.

On November 23, 2001, two died after an Antonov An-28 crashed en route to Kärdla.