The Federal Aviation Administration says this airport had 1,831 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2010, a decrease from 2,455 in 2009.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) began several projects at the Visalia Municipal Airport in 1936, and would continue to make improvements at the field.

During this period, Douglas P-70 "Nighthawk" (heavy night fighter version of the A-20 "Havoc" light bomber) and Northrop P-61 "Black Widow" operated from Visalia AAF.

It is known that the 425th Night Fighter Squadron was stationed at Visalia AAF for its entire training cycle from February until May 1944 when it was deployed to the European Theater at RAF Charmy Down, England as part of the Ninth Air Force.

[9] After the deregulation of the airline industry in 1978, Visalia Municipal Airport became eligible for the Essential Air Service (EAS) program.

[11] Instead, in January 2017, the city asked to be enrolled in the Essential Air Service Community Flexibility Pilot Program which allows communities to receive a cash grant equal to two years worth of subsidy in exchange for forgoing their EAS funding for the next ten years.

[1] In the year ending March 22, 2022, the airport had 32,500 aircraft operations, average 89 per day: 95% general aviation, 3% air taxi, and 2% military.