Foundation and early years

Queen Alia International Airport (QAIA) was built in 1983 in response to the growing airport traffic needs that Amman Civil Airport could not accommodate. At the time, passenger traffic was increasing at a rate above the international average, recording 25–30% growth per annum and placing considerable pressure on airport facilities despite continuous expansion and development. In 1981, the number of arriving, departing, and transit passengers exceeded 2.3 million, while cargo traffic reached 62,000 tonnes and aircraft traffic topped 27,000 movements.

The Jordanian Ministry of Transport undertook the building of a new international airport with sufficient capacity to cope with demand in the foreseeable future. QAIA was built at an estimated total cost of JOD 84 million (~120 million USD as of January 2023) . Passenger facilities were designed to serve 3.5 million passengers per year. QAIA has since grown to become the kingdom's primary international gateway and a stop-over for international airlines in the Middle East. By 2012, QAIA was serving on average more than 6 million passengers and 40 airlines from around the world.

In 2007, the Government of Jordan selected Airport International Group (AIG) through an open tender to operate, rehabilitate and manage QAIA under a 25-year concession agreement. In response to the continual surge in passenger traffic at the time, AIG was also placed in charge of constructing a new terminal, one which not only would expand the airport's then insufficient annual capacity of 3.5 million passengers, but that would also introduce a "unique travel experience" to help advance QAIA's position as a niche transit hub in the region.

Accordingly, AIG invested an estimated $750 million USD in the construction of the new terminal.

The new terminal accommodates rising annual passenger traffic, taking the original airport capacity from 3.5 million passengers per year to 7.5 million.

A new terminal was opened in March 2013 to replace the airport's older two passenger terminals and one cargo terminal. The three original terminals were made obsolete once the new terminal officially began operations. Inaugurated by King Abdullah II on 14 March 2013, the new airport was launched officially following an overnight operational transfer which coincided the airport's 30th anniversary. The last flight departed from the old terminal at 10:05 pm on 20 March 2013, upon which all operations were shifted to the new terminal, where its first flight departed at 2:30 am on 21 March 2013. On 20 January 2014, AIG launched the second phase of QAIA's expansion, valued at a total cost of over $100 million USD.

Development since 2015

In 2016, the second expansion phase, costing $1 billion, was completed raising QAIA's annual passenger traffic capacity to 12 million, supporting Jordan's national tourism strategy to serve as a regional transit hub for leisure and business travel. The aim is to boost its capacity to 16 million passengers annually by the end of the concession time frame in 2032. Following the airport expansion, Emirates operated a one-off Airbus A380 service to Amman, celebrating 30 years of Emirates' operation to Jordan. The superjumbo (registration A6-EUC) operated EK901/EK902 on 25 September 2016, and it was the first-ever A380 service to the Levant. Since then, Emirates has continued daily A380 service to Amman through EK903/EK904.

On 14 March 2020, it was announced by the Jordanian Ministry of Health that "...all flights to and from the Kingdom will be suspended from Tuesday, 17 March 2020, until further notice, excluding commercial freight traffic." The airport had been closed to passenger traffic since 17 March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, several Royal Jordanian flights were commissioned to return Jordanian citizens, especially students, back to Jordan during the pandemic if they desired.

On 8 September 2020, the airport was reopened for commercial flights but was subject to strict health and safety regulations. On 1 March 2022, all travel restrictions regarding the COVID-19 pandemic were subsequently lifted.