Until 1989, the airport was known as Coolangatta Airport. This is an Aboriginal word meaning "Place of Good View". It originally consisted (1936) of three grass strips with the intention of only providing an emergency landing ground for airmail aircraft transiting between Brisbane and Sydney. Passenger flights took off for the first time in 1939 using the then grassy field of the current Coolangatta site. Regular services were started by Queensland Airlines and Butler Air Transport after World War II. Ansett started its own services in 1950 using Douglas DC-3s, while Trans Australia Airlines did the same in 1954, also using DC-3s as well as Douglas DC-4s and Convair 440s to link other Australian cities.

By 1958, the taxiways and runways were fully paved, with the latter upgraded a decade later to allow jet operations with McDonnell Douglas DC-9 and Lockheed L-188 Electra aircraft to begin. The current terminal, known as the Eric Robinson Building, was officially opened in 1981 by Acting Prime Minister Douglas Anthony, when at the time more than 650,000 passengers were using the airport. The following year, the main runway was lengthened to 2,042 m (6,699 ft), thus permitting the use of wide-body jets by the two domestic operators Ansett Australia and Trans Australia Airlines and their Boeing 767 and Airbus A300 respectively on flights from Melbourne and Sydney.

From 1 January 1988, the airport was managed by the Federal Airports Corporation on behalf of the Government. A decade later, on 29 May 1998, the airport was privatised via a long-term lease to Queensland Airports (QAL). By 1999 the company's name had changed to become Gold Coast Airport Pty Ltd (GCAPL). The airport then suffered from the collapse of Ansett in 2001, as Ansett had operated direct services from the Gold Coast to 12 Australian destinations.

In 2003, GCAPL was taken over by QAL, which today also leases and operates Mount Isa Airport, Townsville Airport and Longreach Airport.

Despite the name change from Coolangatta Airport to Gold Coast Airport, the airport retains its original IATA code, OOL and ICAO code, YBCG. The Airport ownership remains with the Government of Australia.

In 1989, the airport welcomed its first international charter service from New Zealand, and by 1999 Air New Zealand low-cost subsidiary Freedom Air started scheduled no-frills service from Hamilton, New Zealand with Boeing 737s. In 2007 the airport celebrated the arrival of AirAsia X, which began services directly to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Tigerair Australia, which started services to Melbourne. Subsequently, the airport has had flights from Air Pacific from Nadi, Fiji. Jetstar to Tokyo and Osaka. Services to New Zealand increased as well, with Jetstar, Air New Zealand and Pacific Blue flying to Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. Airnorth also started services to the airport from Darwin, via Mount Isa. In addition, Virgin Blue announced direct services from Canberra and Townsville. This opened up connections between all three Queensland Airports-owned airports – Mount Isa Airport, Townsville Airport and Gold Coast Airport.

In 2010 Jetstar announced the airport as its newest hub, increased services to Cairns and introduced direct services to Perth (suspended in 2013 but resumed in 2015) and Queenstown. Tiger Airways also announced their newest base at Avalon Airport in Geelong, and said that services from Avalon to the Gold Coast would commence later in the year; however, services to Adelaide would be cut due to delays in receiving new aircraft which were intended for their new Avalon base.

On 26 October 2010, Gold Coast Airport was named the 2010 Major Airport of the Year 2010 by the Australian Airports Association (AAA).

The Gold Coast Airport served as the official airport of the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

In July 2023, Scoot suspended its Gold Coast route indefinitely, citing operational costs, leaving no direct route between the Gold Coast and Singapore.

On 1 August 2023, Bonza announced it would open its third base at Gold Coast Airport, flying on 14 routes, 11 of which are not flown by other airlines. Bonza launched the new routes starting November 2023, but ceased all operations when it declared bankruptcy in April 2024.

In October 2023, Jetstar replaced its Gold Coast to Tokyo route with Brisbane, to better utilise resources.

On 17 July 2024, AirAsia X announced it was ceasing operations to the Gold Coast from 1 December 2024 due to operational costs.