On 19 February 1921, the then company Marítimo Canaria received authorization from the Ministry of Transport to establish an air service on the coast of Tazacorte. In the early 1950s, plans were made for a new airfield. However, the choice of location was difficult, since the island of La Palma is very mountainous and offers little flat land near the capital. So it was decided to build the airfield called Buenavista de Arriba, also known as Buena Vista, about three kilometers west of the island's capital, Santa Cruz, at an elevation of 350 meters. This airfield was opened on 22 September 1955 for civil aviation and the first tourist flights. In 1958, the runway 03/21, about 1000 meters long, received an asphalt surface. Aircraft of the type Junkers Ju 52/3m and Douglas DC-3 operated there. The former runway and control tower as well as the airport terminal building, which has since been converted into a private house, still exist today. As Buenavista Airport was not sustainable in the long term due to difficult wind and weather conditions, a new airport was opened near Mazo, about eight kilometers south of Santa Cruz, on 15 April 1970. Due to the large volume of traffic, the runway was later extended by about 500 meters to the north. It was completed on 1 April 1980, and has remained unchanged to this day. However, the airport's location is also susceptible to dangerous winds - during rare westerly wind conditions, downdrafts from the mountain slopes can occur several times a year, during which air traffic has to be partially or completely shut down. In one of the longest incidents of this kind, between 6 and 10 April 2008, about three quarters of all flight movements were cancelled, and the airport had to be completely closed temporarily. Many charter flights were diverted to Tenerife South Airport. More than 1,500 passengers had to use ferry connections or stay on Tenerife or one of the other islands. In 2021, the airport was affected by the eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano. Due to volcanic ash on the airport grounds, operations had to be completely shut down for a time.