It was captured by Free French units under General Leclerc on 1 March 1941 along with Kufra Oasis.

Libyan Airlines operated a twice-weekly service from Benghazi with Boeing 727-200 for at least ten years prior to its suspension in 2004.

For a couple of years leading up to the revolution Tibesti Airlines (later renamed Air Libya) operated a twice-weekly Benghasi - Kufra - Khartum service with a leased British Aerospace 146 aircraft.

[3] In a tragedy at Kufra, in April 1942 a detachment of Squadron 16 of the South African Air Force with three Bristol Blenheim Mk.

A sandstorm thwarted ground and air search parties, and by the time the lost aircraft were located on 11 May only one of the total 12-man crew was alive.