It had gravel runways and one Fixed-Base Operator; in 1942, it was selected for a Naval Air Station later named NAS Klamath Falls.

The 408th Fighter Group arrived to supervise these activities, authorized Mighty Mouse rocket and airborne intercept radar equipped North American F-86 Sabres.

[6] Fighter-interceptor squadrons which operated from Kingsley Field were:[6] In 1976, ADC was inactivated and control passed to Tactical Air Command (TAC).

[8] These plans were revised in May 2023, with it being announced that Kingsley Field would instead host a Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II training unit.

[1] In the year ending December 31, 2021, the airport had 35,123 aircraft operations, average 96 per day: 54% general aviation, 37% military, and 9% air taxi.

Hughes Airwest introduced the first jets, Douglas DC-9-10 and McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30s, and was operating nonstop flights to Redding, CA and Redmond, OR as well as direct service to San Francisco, Seattle and Eugene, OR in 1980;[12] successor Republic DC-9s continued to serve the airport with nonstop flights to Redding and Redmond as well as flying direct jet service to San Francisco, Seattle and Portland, OR in 1982 before ceasing serving Klamath Falls in 1983.

[13] United Airlines returned with Boeing 737 jets direct to San Francisco in March, 1986 but the service ended in November, 1987.

From the late 1970s to early 1980s, Air Oregon Fairchild Swearingen Metroliners flew direct to Portland, Seattle and other cities.

Horizon Air, a subsidiary of Alaska Airlines, flew de Havilland Canada DHC-8 Dash 8s and Fairchild Swearingen Metroliners to Portland and Seattle.

United Express operated by SkyWest Airlines pulled out of Klamath Falls in the late 1990s but then resumed flights when Horizon Air ceased serving the airport.

Because of the commercial flights at the airport, the Federal Aviation Administration contributes funds to keep the runways and taxiways in good conditions.