The airport was established on the aerodrome site of RAF Horsham St Faith, a former Royal Air Force station in the early 1970s, under the ownership of the local authorities.

The first Norwich Airport was created as a former First World War aerodrome on Mousehold Heath, on what is now the Heartsease housing estate.

The current site, formerly known as Royal Air Force Station Horsham St Faith, or more commonly RAF Horsham St Faith, was first developed in 1939; 86 years ago (1939), and officially opened on 1 June 1940; 84 years ago (1940-06-01), as a Royal Air Force (RAF) bomber station.

The airfield was subsequently transferred to RAF Fighter Command on 10 July 1945, when it was occupied by four Gloster Meteor Squadrons.

Other wartime buildings now form part of the Norwich Airport Industrial Estate (owned by the county and city councils) and are intermingled with many newer structures.

Adjacent to the airport terminal building opened by the Queen Mother, there is a memorial display relating to the USAAF, consisting of photographs, paintings, and a plaque commemorating the American use of the airfield.

[citation needed] The northern environs of airport also features the private City of Norwich Aviation Museum, by the control tower, commemorating the airfield's history as a military airfield and development as a civil airport through the years, with many civil and military aircraft on display - many of which served from the aerodrome at some point in their lifetime.

[citation needed] In March 2004, the city and county councils sold 80.1% of Norwich Airport Limited to Omniport,[4] whilst retaining the remaining 19.9%.

Following the sale to Omniport, the airport became one of the UK hubs for budget airline Flybe, and the number of flights and destinations served increased.

[8][9] In November 2015, it was announced that bids for routes to Newcastle and Exeter had been successful, with the inaugural flight to the latter on 24 March 2016, operated by Flybe.

[citation needed] On 6 July 2017, Managing Director Richard Pace announced a 30 year vision to treble passenger numbers at the airport.

The plans include raising annual passenger numbers to 930,000 by 2030, and 1.4 million by 2045, forging new routes to Paris Charles de Gaulle and Dublin to boost the choice of worldwide destinations and constructing a 100 acre business park for both aviation and non-aviation companies; it was originally frozen by investors in 2015 waiting for the new Northern Distributor Road to be completed.

Further plans include extending Runway 27/09 by 500 metres (1,600 feet), and building new taxiways to boost capacity and allow larger aircraft to operate to the airport.

The move was floated due to Norfolk County Council wanting to integrate its highway maintenance, fleet vehicle storage, park and ride and a strategic salt store into one location, called the Norwich Depot Hub.

This would have been located north of the airport, near the new Northern Distributor Road, which the Council claimed would offer easier access than to the current site in the city;[12] however, this was scrapped when councillors were told it would not make enough savings to justify the outlay.

A new site has been identified north of the Broadland Northway (near its junction with the A140), which is jointly owned by the City Council and County Hall, whilst negotiations are underway with the private owner of the land required for an access road.

[15] Flybe announced in April 2019 that they would be ending jet flights from Norwich Airport as of winter 2019/20 due to them returning their Embraer 195 aircraft back to the lessors.