The airport was founded in 1926 by Aeronautica Militare, Italy's military air force. A flight training facility was established between 1933 and 1943. The first hangar was designed by the famous architect Pier Luigi Nervi. In 1946, a meteorological service was established, and in 1952, the Salerno Air Club was founded. The airport has hosted the Carabinieri helipad since 1975, and the Firefighter helipad and a parachuting school since 1984. A new control tower was built in 1987. The airport was exclusively used by the Carabinieri, Firefighters, flight and parachuting school and small private jets until 2007.

The airport was then developed to accommodate civil traffic on a large scale, with four check-in desks, two boarding areas, luggage belts and waiting rooms. The runway has a VOR system, a radio direction finder VDF and a lighting system. The runway was extended for a total length of 1 654 m, with an extensions to 2 020 m planned. In 2011 was presented the project for the extension of the runway up to 2020 m (more than 60 m of anti blast) and for the creation of new buildings and other technical adjustments.