El Salvador International Airport Saint Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez
El Salvador International Airport Saint Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez
El Salvador International Airport Saint Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez (Spanish: Aeropuerto Internacional de El Salvador San Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez), (IATA: SAL, ICAO: MSLP), previously known as Comalapa International Airport (Aeropuerto Internacional de Comalapa) and as Comalapa Air Base (Base Aérea de Comalapa) to the military, is a joint-use civilian and military airport that serves San Salvador, El Salvador. It is located in the south central area of the country, in the city of San Luis Talpa, Department of La Paz, and occupies a triangle of 2,519.8 acres (1,019.7 ha), bordered by the Pacific Ocean on the south and the Jiboa River on the east, with the coastal highway to the northwest. It is close to sea level allowing aircraft to operate efficiently at maximum capacity. It is connected to the capital of San Salvador, El Salvador, by a four-lane motorway, with 42 kilometres (26 mi) travel in an average time of 30 minutes. It is third in Central America in movement of passengers with 3,411,015 annually, counted without methodology, suggested by International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). It is classified as category 1 by the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States (FAA) and is certified by the Civil Aviation Authority (AAC), the first airport on the isthmus to achieve these certifications.
Location
13.444°N, 89.056°O · 31 m s. n. m. (101 ft)
General data
Runways · 1
Lengths and surfaces from the public OurAirports register; open runways only.
Radio frequencies · 6
Tower
Ground
Clearance delivery
ATIS (automatic information)
Approach
Flight information
Reference frequencies for enthusiasts, from OurAirports (community database, public domain), checked on Oct 16, 2026. They may be outdated or incomplete and do not replace the AIP or current charts: not for navigation. In Europe the published frequency may be an 8.33 kHz channel (e.g., 118.505 for 118.500). In MHz.
History
The airport was built in the late 1970s to replace its predecessor, Ilopango International Airport, which is now used for regional, air taxi, military, and charter aviation. The airport was built on the initiative and request of then-President Colonel Arturo Armando Molina. Funding for this project was provided through the Government of Japan, Engineering and building came under the direction of Hazama Ando (then Hazama Gumi). The electrical work for all lighting and communications was completed by Toshiba (then Tokyo Shibaura Electric). The airport entered in operation on 31 January 1980 as Cuscatlán International Airport (Spanish: Aeropuerto Internacional Cuscatlán), with its first flight being a TACA airliner bound for Guatemala City.
In 1995, the Salvadoran company B&B Arquitectos Asociados designed the expansion of waiting rooms and boarding bridges, of which only the area located to the west was built. The airport is the only connection center in Central America, or hub, for the airline Avianca, and also serves other airlines that fly to almost 30 destinations between Central America, North America, South America and Europe. Since 1998 when the first expansion of the airport occurred (AIES II), the airport has been suffering from saturation in areas of check-in, screening, immigration and baggage as it continues to serve more than 2 million passengers arriving each year. In late 2012, the Autonomous Port Executive Commission (CEPA) began their rehabilitation, modernization and optimization project for the airport, which was completed in April 2015.
On 16 January 2014, President Mauricio Funes announced that the airport would be renamed after Monsignor Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez, but it is still commonly known as El Salvador International Airport (Spanish: Aeropuerto Internacional de El Salvador). The Legislature of El Salvador approved the name change on 19 March 2014, without the vote of the Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) or the National Coalition Party (PCN), to Monseñor Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez International Airport. On 24 March 2014, Funes unveiled a ceremonial plaque to mark the official renaming. The airport was renamed to Saint Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez International Airport on 29 October 2018 by the Commission of Culture and Education after Romero was canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church on 14 October of the same year.
Airlines operating here · 14
Airlines using it as a main base (hub)
Other airlines with direct routes
Airlines with current passenger routes from here, according to Wikipedia route tables cross-checked from both ends (October 2026).
Photo: Arne Müseler · CC BY-SA 3.0 de · view original
Data from OurAirports (public domain) · destinations and airlines from Wikipedia route tables (CC BY-SA, 2026), unless another source is given · profile and photo from Wikidata/Wikimedia Commons (CC0 / CC) · summary and history from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
Cite
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This page was last updated on October 15, 2026
APA
Vuelopedia. (2026, October 15). El Salvador International Airport Saint Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez (SAL). Retrieved October 16, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/SAL
MLA
“El Salvador International Airport Saint Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez (SAL).” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 15 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/airport/SAL. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.
Chicago
Vuelopedia. “El Salvador International Airport Saint Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez (SAL).” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 15, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/SAL.
Harvard
Vuelopedia (2026) El Salvador International Airport Saint Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez (SAL). Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/SAL (Accessed: 16 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{vuelopedia_en_airport_sal,
author = {{Vuelopedia}},
title = {{El Salvador International Airport Saint Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez (SAL)}},
publisher = {Fundación Poderia},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-10-15},
url = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/SAL},
howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/SAL}},
urldate = {2026-10-16},
note = {Accessed 2026-10-16}
}Wikipedia
{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/SAL |title=El Salvador International Airport Saint Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez (SAL) |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-15 |access-date=2026-10-16 |language=en}}