The airport is served by Norwegian Air Shuttle and Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) with Boeing 737 aircraft on flights to Tromsø and Oslo. Widerøe operates services to Tromsø and several regional airports in Finnmark, feeding to the larger airlines'routes. There are a limited number of international charter flights. The first airport in the area was a military airfield built by the "Luftwaffe" in 1943, but was damaged beyond repair during World War II. The civilian airport opened on 4 May 1963. At first services were provided by SAS to other primary airports in the north and to Oslo, but in the 1970s, several regional airports opened in Finnmark, with Widerøe flying connecting flights to them. Alta Airport's regional importance increased in 1990, when it became a hub for the newly created SAS Commuter. Norwegian started flying to Alta in 2003 and a new terminal building was opened in 2009.