It was originally a private airstrip owned by Tim Wallis, but in 1985 it became the main commercial airport for Wānaka, replacing Mount Iron Aerodrome.

By the early 1980s it was clear a new airport would be required to serve the town's growing tourism industry as Mount Iron's runway was too short for commercial aircraft with no possibility of extension.

On 19 March 2004, Air New Zealand began scheduled services from Wānaka to Christchurch through its subsidiary Eagle Airways, using 19-seat Beechcraft 1900D aircraft.

Air New Zealand ended scheduled services to Wānaka on 30 January 2013 after stating the route had never been profitable and showed no signs of improvement.

[5] The court heard evidence that elected QLDC councillors were kept in the dark over plans to introduce jet aircraft to an expanded Wānaka airport.

The lack of a VHF omnidirectional range (VOR) beacon at the airport poses an issue as few aircraft have appropriate GPS systems to enable a precision instrument approach in bad weather.