The museum was opened on March 5, 1982, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Kazan Aviation Institute. Since 1983, it has operated as a separate structural unit of the university.

The museum's exhibition is dedicated to the history of the institute. A significant part of the display tells about the creation and development of the institute, with a central focus on a corner dedicated to the organizer of KAI, corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and Lenin Prize laureate Nikolai Gurievich Chetayev. The exhibition presents the history of the creation and development of all faculties, including the first department of jet engines in the country.

Special attention in the exhibition is given to the modern stage of life and activities of the university as a national research technical university. In addition to educational and scientific work, the museum widely covers the social life of the staff and students: the activities of student design bureaus and construction teams, achievements in sports and artistic creativity.

One section of the exhibition is dedicated to the graduates of KAI and KNITU. Among them are the chief designer of Sukhoi Design Bureau M.P. Simonov, the chief designer of the rocket and space system "Energia, Buran" B.I. Gubanov, the first Prime Minister of Russia I.S. Silaev, as well as Heroes of the Soviet Union and Russia, Heroes of Socialist Labor, directors of enterprises, honored test pilots of the USSR and RF, and others.

In addition to the main exhibition dedicated to the history of the university, the museum has an exhibition dedicated to the life and activities of Andrei Nikolayevich Tupolev, after whom KAI, KNITU-KAI has been named since 1973. It was opened on November 10, 1988, on the 100th anniversary of A.N. Tupolev's birth. This exhibition presents documents and items that comprehensively characterize A.N. Tupolev, his contribution and that of his design bureau to domestic aircraft construction, as well as portray him as a significant state and public figure.

The exhibition also features materials about the life and activities of A.N. Tupolev's closest associates: V.M. Petlyakov, A.A. Arkhangelsky, I.F. Nezval, as well as his successor A.A. Tupolev, who headed the design bureau from 1972 to 1997.

The museum's collections number about 17,000 storage units, of which 15,000 constitute the main fund. These include scientific works, documents, awards, photographs, personal belongings of organizers, scientists, and graduates of KAI, KNITU-KAI, models of aircraft, instruments, video films, audio recordings, and much more.