The Taliban said it carried out the attack at the heavily fortified airport on Tuesday evening.
A spokesman for the provincial governor said the attackers had managed to breach the first gate of the complex in the southern city, which has long been a Taliban stronghold.
The airport compound houses the joint Nato and Afghan military headquarters.
"Several insurgents" had carried out the attack, the provincial governor's spokesman Samim Khopalwaq told AFP.
He said the militants had taken up positions inside a school in the complex.
Officials said the attackers had met heavy resistance from troops inside, with local authorities reportedly deploying commandos to the area.
Kandahar airport director Ahmadullah Faizi told AFP some passengers had been trapped inside the airport while the fighting was ongoing.
Both soldiers and civilians are believed to be among the dead. It was unclear whether the militants had been killed.
The fighting was reported to be over by late on Tuesday.
Militant violence has increased across Afghanistan since the departure of most Nato and US forces last year.
In recent months the Taliban has enjoyed a series of battlefield victories, including briefly capturing the northern Afghan city of Kunduz.
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