In 1941, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built an airfield on the current airport property as a combat pilot training base for the U.S. Army Air Forces' (USAAF) Third Air Force, naming the facility Punta Gorda Army Airfield. By 1944, the base reached its peak in housing 1,000 personnel, including two squadrons of student pilots. The base initially had forty Curtis P-40 Warhawks assigned, later transitioning to the North American P-51 Mustang. Pursuit (i.e., "fighter") aircraft training in the P-40 and P-51 represented advanced phase training for Army Air Forces fighter pilots prior to their being deployed with USAAF operational units in Europe and the Pacific. Punta Gorda Army Airfield was a subordinate command of 3rd Air Force, 3rd Fighter Command at Drew Field (now Tampa International Airport), and also had C-45 Expeditor and C-47 Skytrain transports assigned for support. The 27th Service Group, an all-black unit, was moved from MacDill Field in Tampa to provide training for support services to the air combat units. All base officers and some senior non-commissioned officers lived in Punta Gorda, while all student officers and most enlisted men lived in tent structures on the base. Semi-permanent buildings included an operations headquarters, classrooms, supply building, fire station, dispensary, chapel and the control tower. The base had nose dock hangars, where just the nose of the aircraft was under shelter for repairs. Following the war, the U.S. Government issued a Deed of Release transferring all of the fixtures and improvements situated on the property to Charlotte County. Airline service operated at PGD in the 1970s, but it declined in the early 1980s in the aftermath of the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978. Florida Airlines operated flights from PGD to Tampa International Airport and Fort Myers (Page Field) from 1970 to 1976. Pompano Airways began flights from PGD to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in 1981 but the service was discontinued after less than a year. Provincetown-Boston Airlines (PBA) operated service between PGD and Tampa International Airport in the early 1980s on Douglas DC-3 and Cessna 402 aircraft. PBA discontinued service to PGD in 1985, which was the last commercial service at PGD for the next two decades. Passenger service resumed at PGD in 2007. Skybus Airlines and DayJet began flights at the airport. Skybus ceased operations on April 5, 2008, and DayJet on September 19, 2008. A new passenger terminal, named the Bailey Terminal, opened in 2007 replacing a structure that had been destroyed by Hurricane Charley. The airport built a control tower in 2012 to accommodate additional commercial passenger service. Vision Airlines and Direct Air ended all service to PGD in 2012. Shortly after the collapse of Direct Air, Allegiant grew their PGD presence from three to seven cities and started basing aircraft full-time at the airport. Allegiant continues to grow at PGD; by the end of 2015, Allegiant served 29 destinations from PGD. Frontier Airlines briefly served PGD in late 2016 to mid 2017 offering flights to Philadelphia, Chicago-O'Hare, and Trenton which had been relocated from nearby Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers. After the tourist season of that year, Frontier discontinued service to PGD and shifted the flights back to Fort Myers. Allegiant Air started service to Punta Gorda in 2014. The airline's first route to PGD was from Portsmouth International Airport at Pease. The airline bought a share of a nearby hotel in early 2024 in an effort to increase tourism and flying into the region, but it sold its share in 2025. As of mid 2025, the airport is seeking additional low-cost airlines to provide service. The announcement came as Allegiant revealed additional routes through Punta Gorda. The airport has been home to the Florida International Air Show since 1981.