By 1927, the Spanish Government became aware of the necessity of having a customs airport in Galicia. Initially, the harbour of Vigo was equipped for seaplanes and a "maritime airport" was built and started operations at nearby Cesantes beach in March 1929; meanwhile the construction of a larger inland airport at Peinador was initiated. After years of bureaucratic struggle and negotiations from the local government, the then called Ministerio del Aire fully took on the project and restarted construction in 1947. Following completion of the airport by 1952, operations started in earnest on 20 April 1954 with a 1,500-meter runway. The initial route to Madrid was operated by Iberia flying a Douglas DC-3 aircraft but after a few months Iberia handed the route to Aviaco. During the 1970s, as traffic at the airport grew, a further development plan was initiated. This involved the construction of a new control tower in 1973, a new passenger terminal in 1974, an independent power plant in 1975 and an expansion of the apron and widening of the taxiways completed in 1976. A few years after, the runway was lengthened so DC-9 series aircraft were able to use the airport. As a result, in November 1981, the airport had its first international flight to Paris–Charles de Gaulle Airport. In preparation for future air traffic demands, Aena published an airport development project. In late May 2007, the Board of Aena awarded the construction of the "Vehicle Parking Building, Construction and Technical Block of Vigo airport" to Dragados SA for an amount of €38,266,145 and an execution period of 28 months. After meeting in the summer of 2008, it was decided to expand Vigo Airport's terminal. However, it took more than a year of delays and conflicting information before a plan was finalised and, on 24 February 2010, the board of directors approved the expansion. The expansion is planned to add 11,200 square meters to the current terminal of 8,200 square meters and also involves the total refurbishment of the existing terminal building. The renovation and extension will raise the annual capacity of the airport to four million users. In 2021, 549,094 passengers and 805 tonnes of goods passed through the airport.