The airport was constructed in 1986 to facilitate service to corporate and government officials. With an increasing number of passengers, demand, traffic and airlines, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) decided to upgrade and expand the airport in 1996. On 17 July 2008, the Government of India officially renamed the airport to Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport, after Chaudhary Charan Singh, the fifth Prime Minister of India.

The second terminal, Terminal 2, was then built in 2012 to handle the increasing domestic traffic. It was inaugurated by the then Minister of Civil Aviation, Ajit Singh, and granted international status on 19 May 2012. It covers an area of 17,000 m2 (180,000 sq ft) with two aerobridges, and is equipped with all basic and modern facilities and amenities. The announcement of a new passenger terminal, Terminal 3, at the airport was made in 2016 by the then Minister of Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu, owing to the growing traffic and demands for more international flights and destinations. In 2018, the Government of India approved the new Terminal 3, to be built in two phases at a cost of about ₹2,400 crore (US$250 million). The terminal's first phase began construction in February 2018, and was expected to be completed by December 2021. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused shortage of labour and slowdowns in work, it got delayed, and was expected to be completed by December 2023. It was completed and inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 10 March 2024. It covers an area of 111,367 m2 (1,198,740 sq ft), has seven aerobridges and three floors, including the first floor for departures, the second floor for arrivals and a large basement of 20,461 m2 (220,240 sq ft). An elevated four-lane approach road corridor links Terminals 2 and 3 with the city through National Highway 27 (NH-27), which connects Lucknow with Kanpur, of 6,646 m2 (71,540 sq ft) covering about 1.8 km (1.1 mi). The terminal is be capable of serving over 13 million passengers annually. It is designed to match the local culture and heritage, and has been built on the lines of Frankfurt Airport in Frankfurt, Germany to match its modern, developed and advanced technological amenities and features. The second phase of the terminal will be extended eastwards by demolishing the existing Terminal 1 between Terminals 2 and 3.

In February 2019, the Adani Enterprises led–Lucknow International Airport Limited (LIAL) won the rights of operations, management and development of the airport under the public-private partnership (PPP) model. As per the agreement, the airports would be handed to the company for a period of 50 years at the highest bid of ₹ 171 per passenger. The company will pay the per-passenger fee (PPF) to the AAI for every domestic and international passenger handled at the airport.