Lanzarote constructed its first airfield in 1936. This came about as there were flights from Sevila to the Canary Islands and in order for them to fly over Lanzarote an airfield was necersary. This was the begging of the creation of an aerodrome on the island which was constructed in the mid 1940’s after gaining permission from the Air Force as part of a defence plan for the Canary Islands.
In 1946 the airport was finaly opened for civil traffic but only on a provisional basis and permently opened in 1947. A firm runway was not constructed until 1965. Arrecife airport continued to grow along with the general traffic leading to expansion with the runway extension of the runway. 1970 is when Arrecife opened for international traffic.
The airport as it is known today the new passenger terminal was officially opened with a capacity to meet the demand from over seven million passengers per year