The airport was originally a base of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. Construction of the first 1,500 m (4,921 ft) east-west and 1,700 m (5,577 ft) north–south runways was completed in 1944. The United States Armed Forces took over the base at the end of the war in 1945 and used the site as a radar facility. The airport saw irregular service to Osaka and Nagoya starting in 1955. The base was handed over to the Japan Air Self-Defense Force in 1958 and designated as a jet fighter base in 1960. Komatsu Base was formally inaugurated in 1961. Scheduled service to Osaka and Nagoya began in 1962, using Douglas DC-3 aircraft, followed by Fokker F.27 service to Tokyo in 1963. The airport's first international service was a charter flight from Hong Kong in 1973. Ishikawa Prefecture set aside funds for an airport promotion committee in 2012 amid expectations that the opening of the Hokuriku Shinkansen in 2015 would impact traffic on the Komatsu-Tokyo route. 1960: The runway was extended to 2,400 m (7,874 ft). Designated as a shared airport for defense and civil. 1964: The runway was extended to 2,700 m (8,858 ft) to introduce F-104J. 1973: Jet service began with Boeing 737s. 1979: International scheduled service to Seoul began. 1980: Boeing 747s were introduced to Komatsu Airport, for flights to Tokyo 1981: The new domestic terminal complete. 1984: The new international terminal complete. 1994: HIACT (International Cargo Building) complete. Designated as a Free Access Zone. 1994: Cargolux began international scheduled freight service between Luxembourg. 2002: The new HIACT terminal complete. 2004: The new control tower began operations. 2005: The temporary runway began operation. 2006: Upgrading of the permanent runway complete. Operations switched to the permanent runway. 2007: USAF F-15C, C-17 came for JASDF joint training. 2007: A new domestic cargo building opens.