In 1983 BLM transferred airport property to the state of Arizona. The FBO provided $10,000 to make other facility improvements. sublease was renegotiated and ADOT provided $91,000 to overlay the old aircraft parking apron and extend it to the north. In 1979, a new 25-year lease for the entire 135 acre airport was negotiated by the county with the newly formed Mohave County Airport Authority. In 1972, ADOT provided a $15,000 grant to aid in an airport improvement project for runway relocation, drainage, marking, lighting and fencing. Mohave County leased the Bullhead City Airport from BLM in 1968, and in 1971 the county subleased a portion of the Bullhead Airport to Bullhead Airport Inc., a private enterprise which provided fixed-base operation services. In 1953, the dam was completed and residential development commenced in Bullhead City, Lake Mohave and Mohave Valley areas. The employees of the Davis Dam project graded and used the airport. In 1943, the airport was established on Bureau of Land Management property about two miles south of the Davis Dam power plant construction site. In 1943, land was purchased from the state of Arizona for construction of Davis Dam power plant that was initiated by the Bureau of Reclamation in 1947. As per Federal Aviation Administration records, the airport had 122,192 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2008, 107,595 enplanements in 2009, and 121,468 in 2010. This facility is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems, which categorized it as a primary commercial service airport (more than 10,000 enplanements per year). It was named 2011 Airport of the Year by the Arizona Department of Transportation.

Many of the rooms at Laughlin's casino-hotels offer a view of the airport. The airport is across the Colorado River and one block away from Laughlin, Nevada. Laughlin/Bullhead International Airport ( IATA: IFP, ICAO: KIFP, FAA LID: IFP) is a public use airport located 1.15 miles (1.00 nmi 1.85 km) north of the central business district of Bullhead City, in Mohave County, Arizona, United States.

Bullhead city arizona airport