The airport's hinterland comprises the cities of Durgapur, Asansol, Bardhaman, Bankura, Purulia, Bolpur in West Bengal and Dhanbad & Bokaro in Jharkhand.

The airport was officially inaugurated on 19 September 2013 by the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee.

For several reasons, the airport did not receive final operational clearance from the aviation regulator DGCA until 24 April 2015.

The airport gained popularity in 2018 with connections to Delhi and Hyderabad by Air India and to Mumbai and Chennai in October 2019 by SpiceJet.

Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Group is planning to invest in the infrastructure development of Durgapur airport.

It has six check-in counters with common use terminal equipment (CUTE) in the departure lounge and two baggage conveyor belts at the arrival hall.

The airport's 2,800-meter runway (which is expandable up to 3,315-metre) is equipped with a CAT I instrument landing system (ILS) and can handle narrow-body aircraft like Airbus A320 and Boeing 737.

On 1 May 2022, a SpiceJet Boeing 737–800 aircraft VT-SLH operating from Mumbai to Durgapur as SG-945, encountered severe turbulence while descending at Durgapur, injuring 14 passengers and three flight attendants out of 195 occupants (including two pilots and four flight attendants).