During the Eritrean-Ethiopian War, the airport was bombed two times by Ethiopia. The first was in 1998 and another in 2000. In April 2003, after improvements to the airport's runways, Eritrean Airlines started regular services between Asmara and Frankfurt, Milan, Nairobi and Rome. In 2004, it served 136,526 passengers (+11.8% vs. 2003). in 2018, after renewed relations with Ethiopia, the airport started accepting flights from Addis Ababa for the first time since the war.