The airport opened in 1972, replacing a former Imperial Japanese Navy airfield in the Kamoike area near the city center, which had served as the city's main airport since 1957.

[5] The site of the former airport was re-developed as a "new town" with office buildings and high-density housing projects, and is now the site of the Kagoshima Prefecture government office, among other buildings.

[5] Air Niugini, Cathay Pacific, China Airlines and Nauru Airlines provided international service to Kagoshima from the 1970s to the 1980s, and JAL operated a route to Singapore via Hong Kong and Bangkok during the 1980s.

Kagoshima served as the destination of the final scheduled NAMC YS-11 flight in 2006.

[9] Media related to Kagoshima Airport at Wikimedia Commons