To facilitate development, connectivity, socio-economic growth, and tourism in the state, the Government of Uttarakhand has upgraded it to category "2C" airport under Visual flight rules (VFR) conditions, by extending the runway and building a passenger terminal to handle commercial operations.

[5] Since the opening of the airport, it was used only for private and government purposes, until when in January 2019, it was included in the government's UDAN Scheme, and began to handle commercial operations and flights for the first time, to Dehradun, Ghaziabad and Pantnagar, operated with 9 seater aircraft by the regional carrier, Heritage Aviation.

[7][8] In August 2022, regular helicopter services from the airport to Dehradun and Pantnagar were started by Pawan Hans.

[9] In February 2023, the Union Cabinet approved the Indian Air Force's move to take over the airport operations.

[10][11] After a gap of about four years, on 30 January 2024, flight operations were resumed by FlyBig to Dehradun from the airport, using a 19-seater Viking DHC-6-400 Twin Otter aircraft.