The first
airfield on this site was created by the Milson Aerodrome Society in 1931, comprising a grass runway. It was used exclusively for private flights. The first commercial flights began in 1936, operated by
Union Airways. During
World War II the airport was also used as a military facility. When the
National Airways Corporation commenced service to the airport in the 1950s the runway was sealed and a terminal building was constructed;
jets started to serve the airport domestically operated by Air New Zealand in 1975, beginning with
Boeing 737-200s. A new terminal was constructed in 1992 and a new taxiway was built in 1994. Following the major upgrades of the airport,
Freedom Air started regular international flights to
Brisbane and
Sydney in 1996. Other destinations including
Gold Coast,
Melbourne and
Nadi were added in 1999. A
Royal Brunei Airlines Boeing 767-200 landed at the airport on 10 March 2003 due to diversion, making it the first and only 767 to land at the airport. Since Freedom Air ceased operations in 2008 and Oz jet pulling out of a contract before any flights began, no carrier has served the airport with scheduled international flights. In 2014, the airport released its Master plan for 2014–2035. Some proposed ideas include further lengthening the runway, a new taxiway parallel to the runway and an
Instrument landing system.
Jetstar Airways commenced daily services between Palmerston North and
Auckland on 1 February 2016 with their Q300s. These services ended at the end of November 2019. In 2016 due to an increase in need for overnight mail, Freightways upgraded their New Zealand domestic freight fleet from the ageing Convair 580s and 5800s to the bigger and faster Boeing 737-400Fs under the new company name of Parcelair. In 2018 Palmerston North Airport contracted
Higgins to reconstruct taxiway bravo and charlie. This work was later re-done due to issues with the pavement surface being uneven. In 2024 Palmerston North Airport began its project to replace the existing terminal with a new, fit for purpose terminal designed to house security screening and enable A320/737 aircraft to operate passenger flights.
World record On 17 May 1998, ten people towed a fully fuelled
Freedom Air Boeing 737-300 over 100 metres in 47 seconds, to celebrate the opening of the new runway extensions. The record was logged in the
Guinness World Records. ==Airlines and destinations==