Before Aruba's separation from the Netherlands Antilles in 1986 it was also one of three hubs for ALM Antillean Airlines as well as a home base for Tiara Air until 2016.

In 1934, Manuel Viana launched a weekly mail and passenger service between Aruba and Curaçao, with A.J.

[2] KLM's Snip, the PJ-AIS a Fokker tri-motor, ushered in the scheduled flying age in Aruba on 19 January 1935.

[2] Flying units assigned to the airfield were: On 22 October 1955, the airport was named after Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands during a royal visit.

[3] This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency