1926–1959

World War I aviator Merle Fogg purchased an abandoned nine-hole golf course that was destroyed in the 1926 Miami hurricane for $1,200 (about $22,000 in 2025) in 1928. On May 1, 1929, the airport officially opened as Merle Fogg Field, with two criss-cross unpaved runways. At the start of World War II, it was commissioned by the United States Navy and renamed Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale. The runways were paved, and a control tower was built. The base was initially used for refitting civil airliners for military service before they were ferried across the Atlantic to Europe and West Africa. NAS Fort Lauderdale later became a main training base for Naval Aviators and enlisted naval air crewmen flying the Grumman TBF and TBM Avenger for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps aboard aircraft carriers and from expeditionary airfields ashore. NAS Fort Lauderdale was the home base for Flight 19, the five TBM Avengers that disappeared in December 1945, leading in part to the notoriety of the Bermuda Triangle.

NAS Fort Lauderdale closed on October 1, 1946 and was transferred to county control, becoming Broward County International Airport.

Commercial flights began on January 2, 1953 on Mackey Air Transport to Nassau. Domestic flights began in 1958–1959: Northeast Airlines and National Airlines DC-6Bs flew nonstop to New York–Idlewild, and Northeast flew nonstop to Washington–National. In 1959, the airport opened its first permanent terminal building and assumed its current name.

1960–1980

In 1966, the airport averaged 48 airline operations a day; in 1972, it averaged 173 a day.

The Feb 1966 Official Airline Guide shows three nonstop departures to New York–JFK and no other nonstop flights beyond Tampa and Orlando. Five years later, FLL had added nonstop flights to Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Buffalo, Chicago–O'Hare, Cleveland, Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York–LaGuardia, Newark, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. (Northeast's nonstop to Los Angeles had already been dropped.)

By 1974, the airport was served by Braniff International Airways, Delta Air Lines, Eastern Air Lines, National Airlines, Northwest Orient Airlines, Shawnee Airlines and United Airlines. Delta and Eastern were the dominant carriers, with 12 and 14 routes from FLL respectively. By 1979, following deregulation, Air Florida, Bahamasair, Florida Airlines, Mackey International Airlines, Republic Airlines, Trans World Airlines and Western Airlines also served the airport.

1980–2000

Passenger facilities at the airport were expanded in the 1980s. Much of the current terminal complex (present-day Terminals 2, 3, and 4) were built by 1986 to replace the 1959 terminal. Additionally, both U.S. Route 1 and the Florida East Coast Railway at the airport's entrance were shifted further east to make room for the expansion.

Low-cost airline traffic grew in the 1990s, with Southwest opening its base in 1996; Spirit in 1999; and JetBlue in 2000. Spirit Airlines made FLL a hub in 2002. In 2003, JetBlue made FLL a focus city. US Airways also planned a hub at Fort Lauderdale in the mid-2000s as part of its reorganization strategy before its merger with America West Airlines. Eventually, low-cost competition forced several major legacy airlines to cut back service to FLL, with United pulling out of the airport entirely in 2008 and American Airlines moving its New York and Los Angeles services to West Palm Beach in 2013.

2000–2014

In January 2000, South African Airways (SAA) introduced service from Cape Town to Atlanta via Fort Lauderdale on a Boeing 747. The flight from Atlanta to Cape Town operated nonstop. Fort Lauderdale served both as a refueling stop and as a place to pick up passengers. SAA had just started code-sharing with Delta Air Lines, which offered several flights from the airport. Changes to security regulations following the September 11 attacks forced SAA to eliminate the stop.

During the 2005 hurricane season, FLL was affected by Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Wilma. Katrina struck land in late August as a Category 1 and made landfall on Keating Beach just two miles from the airport (near the border of Broward and Miami–Dade counties) with 80 mph (130 km/h) winds but caused only minor damage; however, the airport was closed for about a 48-hour period. However, when Hurricane Wilma made landfall in October roof damage was reported along with broken windows, damaged jetways, and destroyed canopies. The airport was closed for a period of five days. Hurricane Wilma was a Category 2 when its center passed to the west of FLL. In February 2007, the airport started fees to all users, including private aircraft. FLL is one of the few airports to administer fees to private pilots. A minimum charge of $10 is assessed on landing private aircraft.

In May 2008, Zoom Airlines launched a seasonal link to London's Gatwick Airport via Bermuda. The airline shut down three months later. In May 2010, Condor began a seasonal flight to Frankfurt. Norwegian Air Shuttle introduced routes to Copenhagen and Oslo in November 2013 and to Stockholm the following month. The company expanded its operations in Fort Lauderdale over the next few years.