In 1930, the airport was established during the British era, and was used for VVIP movements. After independence, it got connected with Delhi and Srinagar. The first international flight to Kabul was launched in 1960. In January 1982, Air India started a flight from Bombay to Birmingham that stopped in Delhi, Amritsar and Moscow. The service aboard Boeing 707s linked the large North Indian population in the West Midlands to its homeland. The airline terminated it in October 1984 amid the Punjab insurgency.

In May 2005, Air India commenced service to Toronto via Birmingham using Boeing 777s. The stopover changed to London's Heathrow Airport three years later. In October 2010, the carrier replaced the route with a direct flight from its Delhi hub to Toronto. The following month, the airport's name was changed to Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport. British Midland International (BMI) launched a flight to London-Heathrow via Almaty in October 2011. The company flew the route with an Airbus A330. The link ceased in October 2012 as a consequence of the merger between BMI and British Airways. In February 2018, Air India resumed nonstop service to Birmingham on Boeing 787s.