On 27 December 2015, President Joko Widodo inaugurated a new modern terminal at the airport.

The new infrastructure was thus expected to encourage a marked increase in the number of tourists coming to the island of Flores and its surroundings.

Indonesia's publicly listed PT Cardig Aero Service (CAS Group) air transportation service company and Changi Airports International (CAI), a subsidiary of Singapore's Changi Airport Group – had won the public-private partnership (PPP) tender for the Komodo Airport expansion project, which has an estimated investment value of Rp 1.2 trillion (US$85.82 million).

The airport will be operated by the consortium for 25 years and then handed it to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation of the Transportation Ministry.

Airport officers on motorcycles had attempted to drive the cows away before the aircraft landed.