Until February 26, 2023, the El Salvador San Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez International Airport served 585,116 passengers between arrivals, departures, and transfers, which represents a growth of 11% compared to the same period of the previous year, reported the head of the Autonomous Port Executive Commission (CEPA), Federico Anliker.
“So far this year, the figures continue to be positive, since we have served more than half a million travelers, and this means an increase of 11% compared to what was registered in the same period of 2022,” reiterated the official.
He explained that this figure is supported by the 5,540 commercial flight operations reported in the first two months of the year at the aerodrome, which represents an 8% increase in air operations.
The figures represent a good start to the year after closing a 2022 that set records in the number of travelers that were served, which exceeded 3.4 million people.
“Last year, we served more than 3.4 million passengers. This includes people entering, leaving, or transferring at these terminals. This represents a 37% increase compared to 2021, in addition to 34,000 commercial passenger flight operations, which represented 20% more than in 2021,” added Anliker.
In this sense, the president of CEPA stressed the importance of the airport to promote the country’s tourism as an attraction, an area that registered more than 2.5 million visitors last year, of which a good number entered through the terminal.
“El Salvador’s international airport is a key piece for the country’s connectivity and is the main gateway for tourists, both incoming and outgoing, and national and international businessmen traveling for pleasure or business. Its strategic location makes it a connection point for other cities in the region, which facilitates passenger and cargo traffic,” he said.
Traveling towards modernization
Anliker also highlighted that, so far in the administration of President Nayib Bukele, significant efforts have been made in terms of infrastructure and operating processes.
Among them, the qualification of the new passenger terminal inaugurated in February 2022 and various improvements in the waiting rooms and in the passenger reception area stand out, in addition to the modernization of the operations area with actions such as the recent authorization of the electronic baggage declaration, which ends with the filling out of a physical ticket for people who do not carry objects, merchandise, or monetary amounts subject to declaration and which takes only 12 seconds.