National Airways Corporation (NAC) began twice-daily commercial flights between Whangārei and Auckland in 1948 using Lockheed Electra 10-seat aircraft.

[7] The 06/24 runway was upgraded and sealed in December 1963 to its current length of 1097m, which allowed NAC to commence commercial flights with the much larger DC3s.

[3] The larger capacity of the DC3 meant Whangārei was serviced only twice-daily to Auckland, with some flights continuing north onwards to Kaikohe or other Northland airports.

Northern Districts Aero Club introduced a twice-daily return air taxi service to compete and provide additional frequency to Auckland on each Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

In 1988, NAC's successor Air New Zealand announced the withdrawal of its twice-daily Friendship service in favour of its newly purchased subsidiary Eagle Airways offering up to five Embraer Bandeirante flights a day.

To help meet the demand for additional seats, Eagle Airways increased its services by 14 per week to bring the number of Bandeirante flights to Whangārei to 69.

These flights landed at North Shore and transferred passengers to Auckland CBD within 60 minutes of leaving Whangārei.

[14] From April 2015, Air New Zealand removed all Beech 1900D flights from the Whangārei schedule as well as ending the direct service to Wellington.

A project costing $1.5 million to create a 30m takeoff starter extension and reseal the runway was completed in April 2009.

[14] In August 2011, the previously weight restricted ATR 72 aircraft made its first commercial service to Whangārei Airport on charter from Gisborne.

Improvements within the terminal included more seating for passengers, upgraded toilets and an expanded internal baggage claim area.

[18] Whangārei District Council is investigating moving the airport as the current site is too small to expand significantly to meet requirements for larger aircraft.

Another site at the former location of Port Whangārei was mooted in 2014 but a move is not considered likely due to operational requirements and cost.

[21] The airport has a modern air-conditioned terminal building with free wifi and a cafeteria (called Skyline Cafe), which services Air New Zealand.

The terminal includes a glass walk-through tunnel to protect passengers from the weather when accessing the tarmac parking gates 1 and 2.

Flight training using micro-light aircraft is still available through the Whangārei Flying Club, which merged with the Northern District Aeroclub when it closed down.