Luqiao Airport was originally a military airfield belonging to the People's Liberation Army Navy. Construction of the airfield began in January 1954, and it was opened in July 1955. In 1987 the airfield was converted to a dual-use military and civil airport and was named Huangyan Luqiao Airport. In 1994 the county-level city of Huangyan was merged into the prefecture-level city of Taizhou and split into Huangyan and Luqiao districts, but the airport was only renamed Taizhou Luqiao Airport in December 2008, and its old name is still frequently used.

Military airfield period

The predecessor of Taizhou Luqiao Airport was a military airport called Luqiao Military Airport, which was constructed by the Chinese People's Liberation Army Naval Aviation in 1954 and completed in March 1955. At that time, Luqiao was an administrative town under Huangyan County of Wenzhou Prefecture. Since Wenzhou had inconvenient sea and land transportation, the People's Liberation Army built an airport in Luqiao to meet the needs of war preparedness. The completed military airport has a main runway that is 2,500 meters long and 60 meters wide, and is equipped with taxiway end safety and side safety.

Huangyan Luqiao Airport period

In 1962, Huangyan County was transferred to Taizhou Prefecture, while Luqiao remained under the jurisdiction of Huangyan County. With the application of the Taizhou Prefectural Committee, the Taizhou Prefectural Administrative Office, the Huangyan County Committee, and the Huangyan County Government to establish the Huangyan Civil Aviation Station, the Luqiao Military Airport was converted into a joint military-civilian airport in 1987. It was the first county-level joint military-civilian local airport in mainland China and was called Huangyan Luqiao Airport. In September of the same year, with the approval of the State Council and the Central Military Commission Document No. 157, Luqiao Airport was converted into a joint military-civilian airport. To meet the needs of civil transportation, the airport added a waiting room, and other civil aviation facilities were built at a separate site outside the airport area. The civil aviation station was established on October 24 of the same year. After a successful trial flight on November 18, the airport officially opened to traffic on December 2. In September of the following year, a waiting room, canteen, parking lot and water and electricity facilities were built. The newly built buildings covered an area of 548 square meters and cost 300,000 yuan. Huangyan Luqiao Airport became the first county-level civil aviation airport in the country. On October 20, the Nanjing Military Region Air Force Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army approved the route of Luqiao Airport with document No. 399, which allows Luqiao Airport to run between Shanghai Hongqiao Airport and Hangzhou Jianqiao Airport every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. The reason is that long-distance transportation in Huangyan is inconvenient, and more than 80% of the long-distance passenger transport destinations in the area are Hangzhou and Shanghai, with considerable traffic.

Taizhou Luqiao Airport period

Taizhou was renamed Taizhou City in 1994, and Luqiao Town was renamed Luqiao District, which was directly under the jurisdiction of Taizhou City and no longer under the jurisdiction of Huangyan. However, Huangyan Luqiao Airport continued to use this name. Until December 23, 2008, in order to implement the Civil Aviation Administration of China's "Regulations on the Use of Civil Airports", and to meet the needs of Taizhou's civil aviation development and enhance Taizhou's image, Huangyan Luqiao Airport was officially renamed "Taizhou Luqiao Airport". Therefore, from 0:00 a.m. Beijing time on that day, the arrival or departure station name of the original flights to and from Huangyan in the civil aviation departure system, ticketing system and airline network system was changed to "Taizhou".

In 2012, Taizhou Luqiao Airport underwent a maintenance project and was suspended for about four months to renovate the runway, instrument landing system, weather station, waiting hall and other facilities. It resumed operation on October 28.

On July 26, 2015, a passenger successfully carried controlled items, including lighters and knives, onto a plane at Taizhou Luqiao Airport. He then attempted to set fire to the plane and damage facilities, which was the arson incident involving Shenzhen Airlines Flight 9648. This incident exposed the security problems at Taizhou Luqiao Airport, which attracted widespread attention. As a result, the airport was ordered by the East China Regional Administration of the Civil Aviation Administration of China to suspend operations from July 29. It was later allowed to resume operations on September 6, becoming the first airport in the history of the People's Republic of China to be forcibly shut down due to security risks. In addition, the station chief, deputy station chief and all on-duty staff of the airport security checkpoint were dismissed.