In 1935, the local council decided to locate a new aerodrome at Harewood as the best site for Christchurch.

Development of the aerodrome at Harewood commenced in 1936 when 227 hectares (560 acres) of land was purchased. In 1937, a 915-metre (3,002 ft) runway and a 60-square-metre (650 sq ft) terminal were constructed. In 1940, the airport became RNZAF Station Harewood. By 1946 the form of the terminal area development was established with hangars, a small terminal building, the water tower and some barracks buildings. In 1950, Christchurch Airport received clearance for international operations from the government. The two runways and parallel taxiway concept was established in 1953–runway 02/20 at 2,012 metres (6,601 ft) and 11/29 at 1,741 metres (5,712 ft). In 1954, TEAL introduced Douglas DC-6 aircraft to its trans-Tasman services. In February 1960, a new terminal building, designed by architect Paul Pascoe, was brought into operation.

A 1,400 ft (427 m) southwest extension to runway 02/20 opened in November 1963, extending the runway to 8,000 ft (2,438 m) and providing for commercial jet operations. In April 1965, scheduled jet services were launched by Qantas to Sydney using the Boeing 707.

Later in 1966, an international wing was added to the domestic terminal. In October 1968, NAC operated its first Boeing 737 to the airport. SAFE Air introduced a Chatham Island air link to Christchurch in December 1969. In 1972 the north-west runway was completely resealed and repainted. The first scheduled Boeing 747 service to land in New Zealand arrived on 3 December 1972, a Qantas flight from Sydney. Air New Zealand introduced its McDonnell Douglas DC-10 aircraft to trans-Tasman services from 31 October 1973.

Extensions to the domestic terminal were completed in September 1975 with a new two level pier added, more than doubling the total floor area. In October that year, Air New Zealand began a weekly DC-8 service linking Christchurch to Nadi, Rarotonga and Papeete. Air New Zealand opened its No.1 Hangar at the airport in August 1979. In December 1980 the two Australian domestic airlines Ansett and Trans Australia Airlines commenced scheduled services from Hobart within a few days of each other.

In June 1982, the government approved an 845 m (2,772 ft) northeastern extension to runway 02/20 at the cost of $7 miliion. The extension was officially opened on 6 July 1984 by prime minister Rob Muldoon, bringing the runway to its present length of 3,288 m (10,787 ft).

In February 1985, Newmans Air started scheduled de Havilland Canada Dash 7 services on the tourist routes. The first ever Air New Zealand Boeing 767 service to Melbourne and the inaugural Air New Zealand Boeing 747–200 service to Los Angeles via Honolulu and Nadi (known as the southern connection) departed in October 1985.

In October 1986, Singapore Airlines started Boeing 747 services to the city. The following month, the first British Airways Boeing 747 flight from London arrived. In July 1987, Ansett New Zealand started flying on domestic trunk routes using Boeing 737 aircraft. Also in 1987, the terminal was extended to accommodate Ansett New Zealand and new Air New Zealand lounges; and domestic airbridges were added. Thai Airways began a weekly DC-10 service from Bangkok in November 1988. In March 1989, Air New Zealand introduced a weekly Boeing 747 service from Tokyo and the following month a Boeing 767 service to Perth was introduced. Although dropped years later, the Perth route was restored on a seasonal basis in 2013 with the same aircraft until 2016, when it was upgauged to a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

The first Concorde to visit Christchurch was British Airways Concorde G-BOAF on 9 April 1989, arriving from Tahiti on a world tour. It departed towards Sydney on 12 April, in which it lost part of its vertical stabiliser over the Tasman Sea. In September 1990, stage 1 of the International Antarctic Centre tourist attraction was officially opened.

Air Pacific (now Fiji Airways) started a weekly direct flight to Nadi, Fiji in April 1993. Korean Airlines commenced flying to Christchurch in July 1994 using MD-11 aircraft, this was a weekly service from Seoul.

In April 1997 Origin Pacific Airways started operations at the airport with flights to Nelson.

The Canterbury Aero Club opened a new complex to the north-west side of the airport in October 1998.

In September 1998, the new international terminal building was completed, creating an additional 28,000 square metres (301,000 sq ft) of floor space.

In 2004, expansion of the international terminal was completed to create five more international stands and four more international airbridges. Pacific Blue Airlines commenced trans-Tasman flights from Christchurch (its New Zealand base) in January 2004. Emirates started flying to Christchurch from Dubai and Melbourne with Airbus A340 aircraft in July 2004, later switching to a Sydney-Bangkok-Dubai service with a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft before upgrading to a daily Airbus A380 service while dropping Bangkok on 30 October 2016. Jetstar started serving the city with trans-Tasman flights in December 2005.