Groundbreaking for the new airport occurred on August 17, 1959, beginning construction that was expected to take two years. The expansion was expected to cost $6 million (equivalent to $66,000,000 in 2025). At the opening ceremony, mayor Allen C. Thompson got a laugh when he thanked the people who had anything to do with the airport in the past, and "the taxpayers who are going to pay for it" in the future. The airport opened in 1963, a new airport to replace Hawkins Field, Jackson's airport since 1928. Delta Air Lines' first flight, from Dallas Love Field, landed at Hawkins Field in 1929. The new airport was named Allen C. Thompson Field (after the Mayor of Jackson at the time, who was instrumental in obtaining the land for the airfield), which remains the name for the land on which the airport is built. The airport was "Jackson Municipal Airport".

Following a decision by the Jackson City Council in December 2004, the airport name was changed to Jackson–Evers International Airport on January 22, 2005.

Past air service

For decades, Delta was the primary air carrier to serve Jackson, from the airline's inception in the 1920s. The first jets scheduled to Jackson were Delta Convair 880s in late 1963, Newark-Birmingham-Jackson-Shreveport-Dallas and back. In 1973 Delta Boeing 727s flew nonstop to Atlanta, Birmingham, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Monroe (LA), Montgomery (AL), Memphis, Meridian (MS), New Orleans, and Shreveport, which continued for some time afterward. In the mid-1980s, Delta 727s and McDonnell Douglas DC-9s flew nonstop to Atlanta, Dallas/Ft Worth, Memphis, Mobile, Monroe, and Shreveport. In October 1991 Delta had nonstop 727s, DC-9s and McDonnell Douglas MD-88s to its hubs in Atlanta, Cincinnati, and Dallas/Ft Worth, in addition to Baton Rouge, Birmingham, Monroe, and Shreveport. This was augmented between 1993 and 1998 by Delta Boeing 757s to Atlanta, Birmingham, and Dallas/Ft Worth, the largest commercial jets possible for the airport runways to accommodate. Delta reduced its flights thereafter: by 2004 Delta flew to just Atlanta and Cincinnati, the latter only through subsidiary Comair, and since 2013 it has served only Atlanta directly from Jackson.

In the 1960s Southern Airways Martin 404s connected Jackson with Natchez, Vicksburg, Greenwood, Columbus, Laurel, and New Orleans, but in the next decade Southern replaced these with DC-9s. In the 1970s Southern flew to Memphis, Atlanta, Greenville, Mississippi and Mobile, but after it merged with North Central Airlines in 1979 to form Republic Airlines it flew only to Memphis and left completely by 1984. In the 1970s Jackson had direct Convair 600s to Houston–Intercontinental, Alexandria, Louisiana, and Baton Rouge on Texas International Airlines.

In 1979 Frontier Airlines flew Boeing 737s direct to Little Rock, with connections to Denver and the rest of the airline's network. Royale Airlines flew Gulfstream turboprops to Natchez and New Orleans. Between 1984 and 1986, Eastern Airlines had nonstop 727s to Atlanta and New Orleans; United Airlines flew 737s to Memphis, a route later taken over by Northwest with Saab 340s; Northwest also started direct turboprops to Laurel/Hattiesburg and later started Jackson–New Orleans. A Continental Airlines affiliate began turboprop flights to Houston–Intercontinental, which continued through June 2013 (now part of United, using regional jets). In 1981 American Airlines began direct flights to Dallas/Ft. Worth, Mobile, and later Nashville, using MD-83s and Boeing 727s.

In the early 1990s the airport's name became "Jackson International Airport" since it has facilities for international flights (of which it has none scheduled). It has an office for U.S. Customs to service international arrivals and has established a Foreign Trade Zone. The airport also saw US Airways as a new carrier during this time, gaining nonstop service to Charlotte and for a time, to New Orleans. Trans World Airlines began Trans World Express service to St. Louis in 1995; this ended the next year. TWA had DC-9, often DC-9-10, service to STL in 1996. Low-cost Valujet began DC-9 flights from Jackson to Atlanta in 1994, lasting for two years before it filed for bankruptcy and became AirTran Airways in 1997. The mid-1990s saw a tightening in the airline industry of the hub-and-spoke system, and many destinations from Jackson were eliminated. American downgraded service in 1995 from Jackson to American Eagle service only to Dallas/Ft. Worth and Nashville, and later only to DFW.

In 1997 Southwest Airlines began service to Jackson from Baltimore, Chicago–Midway, Houston–Hobby and Orlando; Southwest flew its last flight from Jackson on June 7, 2014. On October 22, 2020, Southwest Airlines announced that it would be returning to Jackson in the first half of 2021.

Recent air service

In 2013, the airport saw 7,520 commercial aircraft (about 20 commercial aircraft per day) and 53,096 aircraft overall.

In 2006, the airport authority received a federal grant (Small Community Air Service Development) to recruit non-stop flight service to Newark, in the New York City area.