[12] The existing international terminal was designed and built from a masterplan developed by Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners.

[13] The airport closed from March 2011 to October 2011 as a result of the United Nations Security Council establishing a no-fly zone over Libya.

[18][19] Due to its location at the southern border of the Tripoli Metropolitan Area, it served as a part of the larger suburban stronghold of Qasr bin Ghashir village south of Tripoli City, used as a staging ground in attacks attempting to capture or weaken GNA's hold of the capital.

As a result of ongoing clashes, it was acknowledged that the open terrain was subject to retaliatory and preliminary bombing by the GNA from Tripoli frontier, making it unusable as an airport.

[8] The airport, along with the village of Qasr bin Ghashir, was retaken in June 2020 by the GNA as part of its 2020 offensive to push back the LNA and end the siege of the capital city.

[20] The taking of the airport signified that the GNA had regained control of the entire city and metropolitan area of Tripoli.

The terminal hall was a five-story building with an area of 33,000 square metres (360,000 sq ft), and was capable of handling three million passengers annually.

Seen on google maps, the entire passenger terminal is completely demolished, however the jet ways can still be seen sitting in the position relative to their formal gates.

Each of the new terminals would have been 162,000 square metres (1,740,000 sq ft) in size, and collectively they would have had a capacity of 20 million passengers and a parking lot for 4,400 vehicles.

[25] Preparation was also underway for the second new terminal, which would eventually have brought the total capacity to 20 million passengers; the completed airport is expected to strengthen Libya's position as an African aviation hub.

[27] In May 2021 the foreign minister of Italy, Luigi Di Maio, announced that Italian companies would begin construction work at the airport in a few months.