The airport, then named
Gumrak Airport, was used by the
German 6th Army as fuel and supply depot (alongside
Pitomnik Airfield) during the
Battle of Stalingrad in 1942–43. After the fall of Pitomnik on 17 January 1943, Gumrak was the only one of seven airfields around Stalingrad still in German hands. On 22 January, a last
He 111 aircraft left the airfield with 19 wounded soldiers, the last flight out of Stalingrad for the 6th Army. Gumrak eventually was captured by the
293rd Rifle Division on 23 January, leaving the 6th Army without any means of direct support. On 29 April 2025, the airport, which was renamed into Volgograd Airport following the city's renaming in 1961, was renamed again as Stalingrad International Airport following a decree by Russian president
Vladimir Putin in memory of the battle. According to Volgograd regional Governor
Andrey Bocharov, the idea to rename the airport came after veterans of the
Russo-Ukrainian war requested the name change. However the renaming was symbolic and did not affect the official name of the airport nor did it affect the airport's
IATA code. ==Airport expansion for 2018 FIFA World Cup==