[3] Royal Tongan Airlines commenced operations to Ha'apai in the mid 1980s with CASA 212 aircraft.

HS 748 operations followed this before the Short 360 began services on the route, flying to Ha'apai until the airline's collapse.

[6] Air Fiji formed Airlines Tonga in December 2005 as a joint venture with Tongan travel agency Teta Tours.

Services were inaugurated after the failure of Airlines Tonga and Peau Vava'u in the preceding years to fill the gap they left.

Ha'apai flights were once again provided by Convair CV-580s, but also a Fairchild Metroliner and a Beech Queen Air.

[11] The airport's deteriorating runway surface has been reported as the cause of multiple incidents of foreign object debris damages to aircraft operating to the airfield in 2015.