The airport is known for its scenery and challenging approach to land due to the nearby high terrain[4] and proximity to housing.

Regular services from Christchurch began on 6 November 1961, operating DC-3s with three flights a week on a Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to Queenstown via Mount Cook and onto Te Anau-Manapouri.

The 4,100 m2 (44,000 sq ft) expansion to the southern end of the terminal building doubled the size of the airport's international operations, and brought a new mezzanine level on top to enable airbridges to be built at a later stage.

[13] In May 2014, New Zealand's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) approved Queenstown Airport's foundation safety case for after-dark flights, reliant on some additional infrastructure, including upgraded runway lights and widening the main runway to 45 metres (148 ft).

The runway lighting allowed the airport to extend operations beyond sunset to its 10:00 pm noise abatement curfew.

Passengers described a distressing take-off procedure, with the aircraft flying at a low altitude above Lake Wakatipu and the surrounding mountain terrain.

[25][26] Both pilots were suspended over the incident, and in April 2011, the flight's captain was charged under the Civil Aviation Act with unnecessary endangerment.

[31] Because of the report and other concerns, Airways New Zealand and the Civil Aviation Authority have changed the procedures at Queenstown Airport.

Flight paths have been altered for large passenger aircraft, along with the use of multilateration air traffic management that both organisations say will ensure this situation is unlikely to be repeated.