The construction of a military airfield began in December 1951 in the Upper Rhine Plain between the Black Forest and the Rhine River under the supervision of the French Air Force. The runway and associated facilities were completed by June 1952. The airfield was granted to Canadian forces and became a military base, RCAF Station Baden–Soellingen, later renamed CFB Baden–Soellingen, from 1953 until 1994. The newly founded Baden Airpark GmbH took over the former military airfield to develop it into a regional airport and business park. Technically, the airport itself today is part of the Baden Airpark, which also includes business facilities. The first commercial flight from Hapag-Lloyd Flug (now TUI fly Deutschland) took place in April 2001 with service to Palma de Mallorca and Ibiza. In 2008 the airport counted over one million passengers within a year for the first time. On 25 October 2011, Ryanair announced it would open its 47th base at Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden in March 2012 with two based aircraft and 20 routes. In addition to Ryanair's then existing 12 routes Ryanair opened seven additional routes to Faro, Málaga, Palma, Riga, Thessaloniki, Vilnius and Zadar. In July 2018, TUI fly Deutschland announced that it would terminate its operations at the airport, cancelling seven year-round and seasonal leisure routes to the Canaries and the Mediterranean. Since March 2025, Ryanair has stationed a fourth aircraft at Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden airport.