Cincinnati Municipal Airport (Lunken Airport) was Cincinnati's main airport until 1947. It is in the Little Miami River valley near Columbia, the site of the first Cincinnati-area settlement in 1788. John Dixon “Dixie” Davis began giving flying lessons at the field in 1921 and the field was originally named the Dixie Davis Flying Field. The 1,000-acre (400 ha) airfield had become the largest municipal airfield in the world by 1925 when the airport was named for Eshelby Lunken, whose father, Edmund H. Lunken, ran the Lunkenheimer Valve Company. (The family's last name had been shortened from its original "Lunkenheimer" spelling.)

The first aviation related activities in the area were flying lessons offered by John "Dixie" Dixon Davis around 1921. The flights took place just north of the airport, roughly where the Lunken Playfield is today.

On December 17, 1925, the Embry-Riddle Company was formed at Lunken Airport by T. Higbee Embry and John Paul Riddle. A few years later the company moved to Florida, and later became the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. In 1928, the T. E. Halpin Development Co, later the Metal Aircraft Corporation, produced 22 of the high-wing Flamingo at the airport. Also in 1928, Aeronca Aircraft Corporation was formed to build cheap light aircraft; the factory building, hangar 4, is still in use. Over 500 C-2 and C-3 aircraft were built here.

Airline flights began in the late 1920s; in 1938, American Airlines and Marquette Airlines were using the new $172,000 terminal building.

In the middle a weekend of festivities, the airport was formally dedicated on 27 September 1930.

During World War II, the airport served first as the headquarters of the I Concentration Command, before being transferred to the Air Transport Command.

Lunken Airport was supplanted by the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport after flooding from the Ohio River and introduction of larger aircraft that needed longer runways. The flooding prompted the airport's nickname of "Sunken Lunken". During the Ohio River flood of 1937, the airfield and two-story main terminal building at the southwest corner of the airport were submerged, except for the third-floor air traffic control "tower". A plaque (which appears from ground level to be a single black brick) on the terminal building, facing the airfield, indicates the high-water mark. The airport flooded again in 1945 and 1948. However, the latter was not before the soon-to-be U.S. Air Force vacated the field in 1947. As early as 1948 and continuing to at least 1966, the Greater Cincinnati Airmen's Club held an annual cross country air race at the airport. In the early 1960s Conrad International Corporation, which upgraded Beechcraft 18s, was located at the airport. In 1962, Wilmer Avenue, the western border of the airport, was moved westward. The next year, the layout of the golf course to the north was changed to provide additional room for a runway. At the same time, Midwest Airways announced it would begin offering scheduled service out of Lunken, becoming the first airline to do so since 1947. In 1964, a new control tower was also completed and a wing added to the terminal building. That same year, the FAA designated the airport as a general reliever airport. As business jet travel expanded, the 6,100-foot parallel runway 2R was added about 1965 (requiring relocation of the Little Miami River). In 1967, its name was officially changed from "Lunken Field" to "Lunken Airport". The Ohio Aerospace Expo was held at the airport in 1978. By that time, airport leadership began contemplating a greater focus on corporate aviation. Ten years later, Lunken was "believed to rank third in the United States [...] in the number of business jets based at a general aviation reliever airport."

In April 2004, Flamingo Air sought a permit from the city to operate a commuter airline service. However, significant negative reaction from the local community resulted in the airport manager being fired and the possibility of future airline service banned. However, as a compromise for the corporate aviation based there, the city approved the lengthening of the runway to 7,000-foot (2,100 m).

Today the old control tower is home to the Lunken Cadet Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol, and is the oldest standing control tower in the United States. The property also contains public recreation areas, including an 18-hole golf course, playgrounds, and walking/biking paths on the levee surrounding the airfield. In 2009 Ultimate Air Shuttle began operations at Lunken with a flight to Chicago–Midway, and has since expanded to four cities, including Chicago, New York, Charlotte, and Cleveland. Currently, many Cincinnati-area companies base their aircraft at the airport due to its proximity to downtown Cincinnati, but most airlines use Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.