planning of the airport was started by a/l kjøllefjord flyplass in early 1973. its first main task was to raise funding. in addition to donations from the community, lebesby municipality gave a nok 1-million grant. construction started in the summer of 1973, but an early winter forced completion to be delayed until early 1974. the airport opened the same year as the regional mehamn airport, located away. the construction of mehamn airport included upgrading the road from mehamn to kjøllefjord and gamvik to all-year standards. the airfield was occasionally used for ambulance flights, although this was normally only done when mehamn airport was closed because of fog.