The airport was opened by King Carl XVI Gustaf on 3 October 1977. Before Landvetter airport opened, Torslanda Airport, west of Gothenburg, was the main airport serving the city which it replaced after the current airport opened. In 2001, some budget airlines began serving the former military base in Säve, which was renamed from Säve Flygplats to Gothenburg City Airport. That airport was closed down in winter 2014–2015 because of large reconstruction needs, meaning an increase of traffic on Landvetter of almost a million annual passengers. There has been a tendency that international air travel has increased, especially on tourists, while domestic has declined somewhat (mostly business travel). On 14 April 2015, Swedavia announced a 10-year long contract with DHL Express to build a new 7500 m2 large cargo terminal, replacing the old 1700 m2. The construction will begin in spring 2015 and is underway for one year. This was a step included in plans for Airport City. In 2018-2020 the terminal building will be enlarged, with three new air bridges. There are also plans to build a shortcut on the railway Gothenburg–Borås with a tunnel and a railway station under the airport. Construction start has previously been decided to 2016, later 2020, but is as of 2021 delayed. There has been criticism on the choice of location of the airport, which is fairly foggy, located 150 meters above sea level and often affected by low clouds. The runway direction also often means fairly strong crosswinds which can cause landings to scare passengers. In 2015, an instrument landing system CATIIIb was installed which allows landing in fairly dense fog if corresponding system is fitted onboard aircraft. Many but not all aircraft have that (as of 2018). During the COVID-19 pandemic, most flights were cancelled. During April 2020, only the KLM route to Amsterdam was consistently operated daily. The passenger figures were 99.5% lower in April 2020 than in April 2019. On 28 April 2023, Landvetter Airport achieved a major milestone when Scandinavian Airlines began its nonstop route to New York-EWR, connecting both cities three times weekly onboard the 157 seater A321neo LR aircraft. Gothenburg previously was linked to New York more than 40 years ago in 1984 and since then lacked proper long haul services, apart from a few charter flights as e.g. to Thailand in winter. A new terminal section, extending the terminal by 200 metres, was inaugurated in 2023.