Houari Boumediene Airport

The airport is established near Dar El Beïda ('White House' in Arabic, giving rise to the French name Maison Blanche) during the French colonial period.

Following the Allied landings in November 1942, RAF No. 43 Squadron and later U.S. Army Air Forces units use the airport as a major transshipment hub connecting North African operations to Europe and the Middle East.

On July 23, 1968, three Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) members hijack El Al Flight 426, a Boeing 707, diverting it to Algiers; all 48 passengers and crew are eventually released unharmed in one of the first major airliner hijackings by a Palestinian militant group.

The Société de Gestion des Services et Infrastructures Aéroportuaires (SGSIA) is established November 1, 2006, to manage the airport, employing over 2,000 staff.

Terminal 2 (charter/domestic) is renovated and Terminal 3 is converted for pilgrimage and charter flights as part of a broader facility upgrade.

A major new Terminal 4 opens on April 29, 2019, adding capacity for 10 million more annual passengers via 21 telescopic gateways and capable of handling Airbus A380 aircraft; a Hyatt Regency hotel opens alongside it days later.

On November 21, 2023, an Air Algérie Cargo Boeing 737-800 suffers a tail strike during a takeoff attempt and auto-rotates, damaging the fuselage; both crew members survive, and investigators attribute the incident to improper cargo pallet placement.