Both the airport and the island's main town of Gustavia are named after King Gustav III of Sweden, under whom Sweden obtained the island from France in 1784 (it was sold back to France in 1878). In 1984, the Swedish Minister of Communications, Hans Gustafsson, inaugurated the terminal building of the Gustaf III Airport. In 2015 the airport got the name Aéroport de Saint-Barthélemy-Rémy-de-Haenen, named after Rémy de Haenen, an aviation pioneer and later mayor of Saint Barthélemy. De Haenen first landed on the site of what would become the airport in 1946. At the time, the area was used as pasture land for sheep.

Between 2003 and 2005, the hilltop at the end of runway 10 was lowered, and the road running up the hill was moved farther left (if looking up the hill from the airport) into the newly cleared area. This allowed car traffic to pass less directly under the approach path to runway 10. This alteration additionally provided pilots with a clearer view on final approach and came as part of a full renewal of the airport, culminating in its closing for six weeks in late 2004.