In the early 1950s the City of DuBois created a Municipal Airport Authority which looked into expanding DuBois City Airport, in the Oklahoma section east of the city. They determined that site was unsuitable for expansion and joined with Jefferson County to procure the present site, 6 miles (9.7 km) northwest of DuBois. The first flight was made on June 1, 1960 by Allegheny Airlines (Allegheny Commuter replaced Allegheny in 1969). The runway was 4700 feet; in the 1960s and 1970s radio navigational aids were added, including a non-directional beacon, and finally an Instrument Landing System (ILS) for runway 25.

Brockway Glass Corporation, headquartered in nearby Brockway, built a hangar for their aircraft (and later a commuter airline service), and Fixed-Base Operator Beechwoods Flying Service built general aviation "T hangars", fuel pumps and maintenance hangars. The FAA opened a Flight Service Station in 1963 to provide weather and advisory service to pilots; the area is noted for rapidly changing and severe weather. In the 1970s the FAA built a regional radio navigational maintenance facility on the field.

In 1988 Brockway Glass was taken over by Owens-Illinois and its assets were liquidated, including the Crown Airways commuter airline. The Flight Service Station closed in 1990 during FSS consolidation, and its functions were assumed by the Altoona FSS.

Since 1991 the airport complex has continued to expand and renovate facilities. A better access road, part of Pennsylvania Route 830, was completed in 2007.

The airport is home to a pilot training and maintenance facility for Essential Air Service provider Southern Airways Express.

Runway repaving

In the summer of 2025, the DuBois Airport was awarded $3 million in federal funding to repave its runway and taxiway. Work will be done over a 3-day period to completely repave the runway as well as some of the taxilanes and aprons across the airport, most notably the t-hangar taxiway.

The runway was last redone in 2000. Work was delayed from the winter of 2025 to the summer of 2026 to minimize the chance of weather disruption. Work is planned for the weekend to minimize disruption to the airport's Essential Air Service carrier, Southern Airways Express, which is supportive of the plan.