El Salvador International Airport Saint Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez, International airport in Comalapa, El Salvador.
El Salvador International Airport Saint Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez is the country's main airport, located in Comalapa, about 27 miles (44 km) south of San Salvador. The terminal has shops, restaurants, and car rental services available to travelers on arrival and before departure.
The airport opened in 1980 with financial support from Japan, taking over from an older facility closer to San Salvador. In 2014, it was officially renamed after Archbishop Romero, who had been assassinated shortly after the airport first opened.
The airport is named after Archbishop Óscar Arnulfo Romero, one of the most recognized figures in Salvadoran history, who was canonized in 2018. For many travelers arriving here, the name on the terminal is a quiet reminder of how deeply Romero is woven into the country's identity.
The terminal is laid out on a manageable scale and is fairly easy to navigate, but it is worth arriving early since security lines can grow during busy periods. The road to San Salvador runs through flat coastal land and takes roughly an hour depending on traffic.
Romero was killed in March 1980, just a few months before the airport opened later that same year. The naming links two events from the same year that both left a deep mark on El Salvador.
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