Early years

The airport was opened in January 1911 from private funding by the Hamburger Luftschiffhallen GmbH (HLG), making it the oldest international airport in the world to still be in operation and the second oldest airport in the country after Tempelhof Airport. The original site comprised 45 hectares, and during its early days was primarily used for airship flights. In 1913 the site was expanded to 60 hectares, the northern part being used for airship operations while the southeast area was used for fixed-wing aircraft.

During the First World War, the airship hangar was used extensively by the German military, until it was destroyed by fire in 1916.

During the British occupation, beginning in 1945, the airport was given its current name, Hamburg Airport. It was used extensively during the Berlin Airlift in 1948 as a staging area, as the northern air corridor went between Hamburg and West Berlin.

When Lufthansa launched passenger operations in 1955, Hamburg was used as a hub until Frankfurt Airport took over due to growth constraints posed by its location in the city. Lufthansa Technik still maintains a large presence at the airport due to the early activities of the airline at the airport. In October 1959 Pan American World Airways was the first airline to start scheduled service with jet aircraft to Hamburg, the routing was New York – London – Hamburg – Copenhagen flown with Boeing 707.

In the 1960s, discussions began with the aim of moving the airport to Heidmoor near Kaltenkirchen. Among the reasons cited were limited expansion possibilities, capacity constraints due to crossing runways, and noise. Lufthansa had introduced the Boeing 707 in 1960, which made more noise than previous piston-engined aircraft. The plans were dropped, owing both to bad experiences in other cities where airports had been moved far from city centres, and to Lufthansa's move to Frankfurt.

In 1980, Northwest Orient started flights to Hamburg, originating from Minneapolis with a stop in London Gatwick. In 1981 they introduced a second flight from New York JFK via Copenhagen to Hamburg. All flights were operated with Boeing 747 aircraft. After Northwest Orient received traffic rights to serve Frankfurt they discontinued all flights to Hamburg from early 1985.

In April 1985, Pan American World Airways started a daily non-stop flight from New York JFK to Hamburg, operated with Boeing 747. This was Pan Am's first non-stop service from the US to Hamburg. Starting February 1986 Pan Am also used their new long-range Airbus A310-200 on the route, which made it one of the first ETOPS routes across the Atlantic. In 1988 Japan Air Lines suspended their flights from Tokyo to Hamburg after serving the route for 24 years. One year later in 1989 Lufthansa suspended all flights between Hamburg and Tokyo after almost 30 years of service, which was the last route from Hamburg to the far east.

In May 1989, American Airlines started a daily service from New York JFK via Brussels to Hamburg, and Delta Air Lines started a daily service from Atlanta via London Gatwick to Hamburg. American Airlines suspended their service after a year due to shortage of aircraft after the purchase of Eastern Air Lines' South America routes, Delta upgraded the Atlanta flight to a daily non-stop service with an extension to Berlin-Tegel from May 1991, and also served New York JFK – Hamburg from November 1991 after taking over Pan Am's North Atlantic route network.

Development since the 1990s

In March 1990, Lufthansa launched a daily flight from Hamburg to Newark and added another non-stop flight to Miami in 1992. This lasted for only one summer season and was then suspended together with the Newark flight in late 1992, which left Delta Air Lines alone in this market with their Atlanta and New York flights. From early 1993 to late 1994 South African Airways operated flights from Cape Town via Johannesburg and Munich to Hamburg. In the mid-1990s, Delta experienced financial troubles and had to consolidate their fleet and route network. Hamburg was among the cities in Europe that were cut completely in late 1995. From 1996, Canada 3000 started summer seasonal flights to Hamburg and until their bankruptcy in late 2001, they served Toronto to Hamburg via Halifax and Vancouver to Hamburg via Calgary. In May 1998, Delta relaunched daily non-stop flights between Atlanta and Hamburg. However this route only operated until early 2000. The combination of an excessively large business class cabin in their Boeing 767-300ER aircraft and the foundation of the SkyTeam alliance made Delta cancel this service again.

In the early 1990s, the airport began extensive modernisation. The plan, called HAM21, included a new 500-metre (1,600 ft) pier extension, a new terminal (Terminal 1), and the Airport Plaza between Terminals 1 and 2, which includes a consolidated security area. The airport's shareholders are the City of Hamburg and airport management company AviAlliance.

In May 2005, Air Transat started a seasonal flight between Toronto and Hamburg.