Volaris, the ultra-low-cost airline, has announced a new route from El Salvador to Chicago, United States. The airline revealed that the new service will operate three times a week on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, with a layover in Guatemala City.

Volaris El Salvador aims to connect Salvadoran families to Chicago in the United States through this new route, which is set to begin operations on November 3rd of this year. The flight will make a stopover in Guatemala City.

As the national flag carrier operating in Central America, Mexico, and the United States, Volaris stated that the flights will depart from El Salvador at 4:53 p.m. and return at 12:30 a.m., following the Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday schedule.

“With this route, exclusively operated by Volaris El Salvador, we will meet the high demand from Central American passengers wishing to visit the United States while strengthening social and economic ties between the two regions. According to the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), there is a community of over 25,000 Guatemalans and nearly 11,000 Salvadorans residing in Illinois, Chicago,” said Omar Carrera, Volaris’ Commercial Director.

Carrera further explained that the new flight will depart from San Salvador and make an intermediate stop in Guatemala City before continuing to its final destination, Chicago, Illinois. “With this route, the airline will capitalize on the market of these two Central American destinations,” he added.

According to data from the Ministry of Tourism of El Salvador (Mitur), the country experienced a 43% growth in international visitor arrivals during the first two months of the year compared to the same period in 2022, with over 480,000 travelers recorded.

Similarly, Guatemala saw an increase of 178% in visitor arrivals during the first two months of the year, with over 217,000 visitors entering the country compared to the same period the previous year. El Salvador is the country with the highest number of tourists visiting Guatemala (37%), followed by the United States (20%).

Additionally, Volaris El Salvador offers flights from San Salvador to seven other cities in the United States, including New York (JFK), Washington, D.C. (IAD), Los Angeles (LAX), Houston (IAH), Oakland (OAK), Miami (MIA), and Ontario, California (ONT).

Since beginning operations in El Salvador 20 months ago, Volaris has become the second airline with the highest offered capacity in the country. “We have gone from offering 52,000 seats in December last year to 96,000 currently. We expect to capture 19% of the Salvadoran market by the end of this year,” recently announced Ronny Rodríguez, Director of Reputation and Corporate Development at Volaris.