The first flight over Granada took place during the Corpus Christi celebrations of 1911. This was followed by more air shows over the next few years, which were interrupted by the First World War. Land situated on the plains near the town of Armilla was used as a base.
Shortly afterwards, the war with Morocco made it necessary to construct a permanent military aerodrome to support the aviation involved in the conflict. For this, the Granada Town Council donated the land where the air shows were held. The aerodrome opened in 1922, and was equipped with workshops, warehouses, blocks for soldiers and officers, a telegraph station, and two canvas hangars each with a capacity for seventeen aircraft. in 1925, it was named Dávila Aerodrome, in memory of Luis Dávila Ponce de León.
At the end of the war, the aerodrome was used as an auxiliary airport for Seville, and in 1929 was opened to civilian traffic with the Granada-Seville route, which was maintained for less than a year. It was once again used exclusively for military operations during the civil war, and in 1946 the aerodrome was permanently opened to all domestic, civilian and international tourist traffic as well as for commercial refuelling stops.
Between Chauchina and Santa Fe
During the fifties, the aerodrome started to grow gradually: a control tower in 1952, a building for civil aviation at the request of Aviaco in 1954, a flying school in 1955, etc. However, the relatively poor success of the lines operated and the lack of a hard-surfaced runway so that the new aircrafts could operate gave rise to the construction of a new airport in the municipalities of Chauchina and Santa Fe in the sixties.
Construction started in 1970 and the new airport was inaugurated on 15 June 1972, opening to national and international traffic, passengers and freight. A year later, in October 1973, aeronautic easements were established.
At the beginning of the nineties, with Granada chosen to host the 1995 World Ski Championship, the airport facilities were considerably improved. The main works were the enlargement of the aircraft parking area, the lengthening of the runway, the remodelling of the power plant, the construction of an administrative building for Aena and general aviation, and the enlargement and development of the terminal building.
The airport became officially known as Federico García Lorca Granada-Jaén Airport on 13 June 2006.
