Since 17 October 1985, the airport is named after Air Marshall Hugo da Cunha Machado (1898–1989), born in Maranhão.

In 1942, a grass track measuring one thousand meters (runway 09/27), which served the airbase of the Brazilian Army, was the only way that São Luís had to receive flights.

[citation needed] In 1974, technical jurisdiction, administrative and operational services were transferred to Infraero.

[citation needed] The new terminal of the airport was opened in June 1998 and in October 2004, it was upgraded to international category.

[6] Following is the number of passenger, aircraft and cargo movements at the airport, according to Infraero (2007-2021) and CCR (2022-2024) reports:[9][10][1] Note: a: 2022 series provided by CCR is incomplete, lacking data for the months of January, February and part of March.