In 1926, Norfolk citizens experienced their first commercial flights on the Mitten Line, operated by Philadelphia Rapid Transit Air Service, Inc.

The service offered round-trip flights to Washington and Philadelphia for a brief period before high costs led to its discontinuation.

In 1929, Ben Epstein, a World War I veteran pilot, established an air taxi service between Norfolk and Richmond from his airfield on Granby Street.

The Ludington Line commenced the first daily scheduled service from Epstein's field to Washington, D.C. During this era, air travel was a special occasion marked by families dressing in their finest attire to board the 10-passenger Fokker Trimotor.

Operations moved to Glenrock Airport, but the Great Depression caused all commercial flights to be suspended indefinitely, grounding Norfolk for five years.

In 1938, Norfolk Municipal Airport was established on the site of the former Truxton Manor Golf Course, featuring a 3,500-foot runway and a passenger terminal, which was completed in 1940.

Norfolk Municipal Airport easily adapted to the demands for longer runways and taxiways, with jetliners becoming the norm.

New facilities for the fire station, maintenance depot, and air traffic control tower were also planned and completed as needed.

In 1991, a new concourse extension with 10 additional gates was completed, along with a modern fire station and FAA air traffic control tower.

The airport also embraced the digital age by launching its first website and installing internet access booths for travelers.

In 2017 the airport had 67,679 aircraft operations, an average of 185 per day: 39% airline, 27% air taxi, 27% general aviation, and 2% military.

[1] General aviation services, or fixed-base operations, are provided by Signature Flight Support with full-service facilities for maintaining and housing private and corporate aircraft.

Also available for use is an Enhanced Target Generator (ETG) lab with two radar scopes to accomplish training objectives, as well as the IDS4 system, a specialized microcomputer network system designed to distribute and display both static and real-time data regarding weather and other rapidly changing critical information to air traffic controllers.

[34] In February 2019, the airport announced it would begin construction of a brand new 1.09 million square foot parking garage.