As of 1974 and 1975,
Transportes Aéreos de Timor (TAT), the national airline of the then
Portuguese Timor, was operating scheduled domestic services from
Dili to Covalima/Suai. In April 1983, an Indonesian State-owned airline,
Merpati Nusantara Airlines, started operating a
Kupang–Dili––Covalima/Suai flight. In 1985, that service was being flown twice a week. and in mid 1999, Merpati was operating one flight a week on a Dili–Covalima/Suai–Kupang routing, using an Indonesian-built
CASA turboprop aircraft. When the
Indonesian occupation of East Timor came to an end later that year, the runway at Suai was still only very short. At around that time, the
terminal was remodelled and fitted with air conditioning. In the lead-up to the airport's upgrading in the mid-2010s, its runway was an 'all weather' asphalt strip long and wide that could accommodate aircraft as large as a C-130. In general, the airport was for day time use only, but helicopter operations could be supported at night. The facilities added during the upgrading included a new sealed runway, a terminal building, a
control tower,
hangars for five large helicopters and fire fighting equipment. On 28 September 2018, the airport hosted its first international arrival, a charter flight from
Darwin, Australia, operated by Northern Oil & Gas Australia (NOGA). , the airport was barely being used, and usually had no more than one flight a day. ==Facilities==