On July 2, 1927, twelve P-1 aeroplanes under the command of Major Thomas G. Lanphier, Air Corps, proceeded from Selfridge Field to Ottawa, acting as Special Escort for Colonel Charles Lindbergh, who was to attend at the opening of the Dominion Jubilee.

First Lieutenant J. Thad Johnson, Air Corps, commanding 27th Pursuit Squadron, was killed in an unsuccessful parachute jump after a collision with another plane of formation in a demonstration on arrival over Ottawa.

[9] With the arrival of civilian jet travel, the Canadian government built a new field south of the original one, with two much longer runways and a new terminal building designed to handle up to 900,000 passengers/year.

The terminal building had been scheduled to open in December 1959, but during the opening ceremonies, a United States Air Force F-104 Starfighter went supersonic during a low pass over the airport, and the resultant sonic boom shattered most of the glass in the airport (including the entire north wall) and damaged ceiling tiles, door and window frames, and even structural beams.

George Hees, the Canadian Transport Minister, stated that "the sonic explosion subjected the terminal building to five times the hurricane force which it had been designed to withstand".

[11][12] The original terminal building and Trans-Canada Airways/DOT hangar continued in private use on the airport's north field until the fall of 2011 when it was demolished.

[13] In 2017, the Canada Border Services Agency started to use facial recognition technology to process incoming international travellers.

All international passengers are directed to Primary Inspection Kiosks before seeing a Border Services Officer and are no longer required to fill out a declaration card.

Customs services for private aircraft are available at the two fixed-base operators (FBO), Shell Aerocentre and Skyservice Business Aviation, on the south field.

Transport Canada operates two facilities on airport grounds, one of which houses training equipment, including flight simulators, and the other is a hangar for maintenance and storage of government-owned aircraft.

[17] At the turn of the millennium, the Ottawa Airport Authority announced plans to build a second, adjacent terminal to meet the demands of increased traffic.

[20] They had been heavily renovated and modernized in 1985–87, which included the removal of a seating area containing personal television screens which would provide 15 minutes of VHF TV channels for 25 cents, as well as an open ceiling design.

The terminal's design focuses on creating a calm and easy travel experience for passengers but also honours aspects of the region through the display of various art by commissioned Canadian artists.

Other Canadian features include an inukshuk commissioned and sponsored by First Air, and a rare traditional birch bark canoe built by the master craftsman and Algonquin leader who created an identical one for the late Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau.

Macdonald–Cartier Airport is part of Canada's busiest air corridor between Ottawa, Montreal, and Toronto, which is commonly referred to as the Eastern Triangle.

Porter Airlines has launched multiple routes to the United States since 2023 as it has developed the airport into a major hub.

In September 2019, Canadian flag carrier Air Canada announced that it would shut down its seasonal daily route between Ottawa and Frankfurt in Germany, a key Star Alliance hub.

On June 27, 2023, Air France began a new, year-round route connecting Ottawa with its main hub, at Paris–Charles de Gaulle, with service offered five times weekly.

[28] Non-stop and same-plane freighter and/or combi flights OC Transpo operates route 97 with frequent express bus service to the airport bus stop (Airport station) along a dedicated BRT transitway with connections to the O-Train Confederation Line, Trillium Line, and other transit stations.