Between 1925 and 1928, Ny-Ålesund saw four air expeditions to the North Pole, two of which required the construction of an airship hangar and mast.

Soviet protests against the airport caused the Norwegian authorities to oppose the plans, which were laid to rest in the early 1960s.

In May 1925, Roald Amundsen used Ny-Ålesund as a base for two flying boats, but the expedition failed to come closer than 88 degrees north.

[5] On 11 May,[4] Amundsen and Umberto Nobile's airship Norge left Ny-Ålesund and traveled via the North Pole to Alaska.

[5] After two short skirmishes, Nobile's airship Italia left Ny-Ålesund on 23 May 1928 to reach the North Pole, but crashed on the return.

[9] From 1946, the Royal Norwegian Air Force started serving Ny-Ålesund with their Consolidated PBY Catalina amphibian aircraft.

[11] Their initial observations concluded that Kvadehussletta, the outermost part of Brøggerhalvøya, was the best-suited place for a major airport.

Hotellneset and Adventdalen, both close to Longyearbyen, were rejected because the areas were too small and due to poor weather conditions.

Financing of the airport was in part to be secured through a Hilton hotel, which would provide accommodation for tourists, and the "Roald Amundsen Institute," a planned research station.

[13] Although the brothers received initial support from the government,[14] the Soviet Union officially protested the airport on 5 November 1958.

[22] The need for an airport to support commercial activity in Ny-Ålesund arose in 1965 with the construction of Kongsfjord Telemetry Station.

The Royal Norwegian Council for Scientific and Industrial Research needed to have an aviation connection with Longyearbyen to send magnetic tapes with the downloaded data to Germany.

[24] Services were originally operated by Ski- og Sjøfly, but were later taken over by Svalbard-Fly,[25] both of which had their Cessna 185 aircraft stationed in Ny-Ålesund.

[10] On 3 June 1970, a miner with a fractured skull was transported by ship from Longyearbyen to Ny-Ålesund and sent on board a Piper PA-31 Navajo to the mainland for treatment.

[29] During the summer of 1975, the Norwegian Polar Institute stationed two helicopters at Ny-Ålesund Airport to support their expeditions.

[30] During the late 1970s there was little winter activity in Ny-Ålesund, but the air strip was kept operational for the few groups of researchers who did visit.

[25] Lufttransport replaced the helicopter service with a two-engine five-seat aircraft in 1989, which cut the cost of transport significantly.

[1] The only airline to provide service to and from Hamnerabben is Lufttransport, which operates the 16-seat Dornier 228 aircraft to Svalbard Airport, Longyear.