The British Government of India built military airstrips near Tejgaon during the Second World War to operate warplanes towards the war fields of Kohima and other Burmese war threats. Tejgaon Airport became the first airport to operate civil aviation in the East Pakistan, and it was also a station of the Pakistan Air Force.

Soon after the outbreak of the Second World War, the British authority felt the need to construct Royal Indian Air Force (RIAF) stations in Dhaka. The construction of Tejgaon Airport at a place named Dainodda started in 1941, and the building of a landing strip at Kurmitola (Balurghat) became around the same time. The airstrips at Tejgaon and Kurmitola had military fighter plane landing facilities and the British Air Force used them to safely maintain the aircrafts. There was also an American air force detachment here during the war period. The first RIAF light fighter landed on the under-construction runway of Tejgaon at the beginning of 1943, and after the development of the airport facilities, it became the first civil airport.

In 1948, the government established the Eastern Pakistan Flying Club to train local youths in the field of piloting. In 1956, a branch of the Flying Wing of the Plant Protection Department was established in East Pakistan. Tejgaon Airport gradually became busy with flights from these agencies as well as PIA, which had acquired piston engine aircrafts like Dakotas and Conair's, and super constellations converted to turbo propeller-type aircraft like Viscounts and Fokker. Later, jet aircraft like Boeing, Comet and DC 8 were added to the fleet. The airport also served foreign airlines, including British Airways and Pan American Airways. PIA started its Boeing jet services in 1960. The Department of Civil Aviation and the Airport Development Agency had to upgrade Tejgaon Airport to accommodate traffic according to international standards. However, the airport began to fail to fulfill the requirements of a modern international airport. therefore, the decision was taken to construct a new international airport at Kurmitola, Dhaka and the construction work of new airport began with the technical support of French experts.

After the Independence of Bangladesh the construction work of the airport was completed in 1980 and Operational activities were shifted from Tejgaon to Kurmitola. Dhaka international airport was renamed as Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in 2010. Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport is situated at Kurmitola, 18 kilometer north of Dhaka zero point, the capital city of Bangladesh.