A contract flying school was operated by the USAAF West Coast Training Center from July 25, 1942, until September 1944.

The airport was moved to its current location south of Valencia Road and operated on the west ramp out of three hangars vacated by World War II military manufacturing companies.

[9] In 1981, Eastern Airlines was operating direct Airbus A300 wide-body service to Atlanta via an en-route stop in Phoenix.

The Tucson International Airport[12][13] name was legitimate: Aeronaves de Mexico had begun Douglas DC-6 service to Hermosillo and beyond in 1961.

In the mid-1970s successor airline Aeromexico flew McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30s nonstop to Hermosillo and on to Ciudad Obregon, Culiacan, Guadalajara and Mexico City.

[14] Bonanza Air Lines began DC-9 jet service to Mexico in the late 1960s with flights to Mazatlan, La Paz and Puerto Vallarta,[15] and successor airlines Air West and Hughes Airwest flew DC-9s from Tucson to Mexico with their service being extended to Guadalajara, Mazatlan, La Paz and Puerto Vallarta.

[18] The terminal underwent minor remodeling during the 1960s and 1970s, and its interior was featured in the 1974 film Death Wish starring Charles Bronson.

This commuter airline operated Cessna 402s, Convair 440s, de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otters and Swearingen Metroliners.

A remodeling in 1985 doubled the size of the terminal from 150,000 to 300,000 sq ft and rebuilt the concourse into separate, two-level structures with jet bridges.

[19] In 1987 the airport lengthened the primary runway a half-mile to the southeast for noise abatement reasons and installed arresting barriers for military planes.

[20] A Concourse Renovation Project was finished in 2005—the last phase of a remodeling begun in 2000 that added 82,000 sq ft (7,600 m2) to ticketing and baggage claim designed by HNTB.

[25][26] Not counting students or transient flight crews, the installation employs over 1,700 personnel, over 1,100 of whom are full-time Active Guard and Reserve (AGR) and Air Reserve Technician (ART) personnel, and the remainder traditional part-time Air National Guardsmen.

Although an AETC organization, the 162nd also maintains an F-16 Alert Detachment for U.S. Northern Command / NORAD and AFNORTH at nearby Davis-Monthan AFB in support of Operation Noble Eagle.

It has two asphalt runways:[1][27] In the year ending December 31, 2022, the airport had 142,389 operations, average 390 per day: 45% general aviation, 23% airline, 13% air taxi, and 19% military.

Both concourses inside the main terminal offer food, beverage, and shopping, and free wireless internet and charging stations.