The airport was built to replace
Augusto Severo International Airport. In 1998,
Infraero started the planning and construction of the airport. In 2011 the concession of the unfinished facility was auctioned and the winner would have to finish its construction, including the terminal building and control tower. The project envisaged an intermodal airport, focusing both on passenger and cargo transportation. The complex was expected to have the highest aircraft traffic in the North East of Brazil. On May 12, 2011, the
National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil (ANAC) released a document opening the concession of the unfinished airport to private entrepreneurs. The auction to choose the winner took place on August 22, 2011, and the winner was Consortium Inframérica, which is formed by the Brazilian Engineering Group Engevix (50%) and the Argentinean Group Corporación América (50%). The latter operates 52 airports in seven countries. In 2013, it was decreed that the name of the airport would be inspired in part from former governor of the state of Rio Grande do Norte
Aluízio Alves. Consortium Inframérica was given three years to build the passenger and cargo terminals, and was authorized to commercially exploit the facility for 25 years. Differently from other Brazilian airports in the process of privatization, in which the state operator
Infraero retained 49% of the shares, in the case of Natal Consortium Inframérica got 100% of the shares and Infraero held no participation. The airport is the first in Brazil operated by a
private sector company. The airport started operations on May 31, 2014 with domestic flights. International operations followed a few days later. The facility was officially opened on June 9, 2014. On March 10, 2021, it was announced that the
National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil had approved a new concession process for the airport, as per request from Consortium Inframérica made on March 5, 2020. On May 19, 2023,
Zurich Airport Brasil won a 30-year concession to operate the airport. ==Airlines and destinations==