Key airport information may also be found at: https://www.cepa.gob.sv/  

Key airport information may also be found at: World Airport Database 

Overview 

When the Civil Aeronautics Act was issued in 1955, it also included the creation of the Department of Civil Aviation, which in 1962 became the General Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGCA). DGCA was given the responsibility to develop the modernization project of Ilopango International Airport, which was concluded later in 1965. In December 1979 it was agreed to suspend the international traffic in Ilopango Airport as of January 1980, moving the traffic to Comalapa Airport (managed by CEPA), which became the main airport for El Salvador. Ilopango remained active only for military use and for a small proportion for civil aviation. In October 1987 the Ilopango airport re-opened for international traffic in a limited way, for private aviation operations, air taxis, air ambulances, flights on official duty, civilian and military assistance. In 1994 with the establishment of the Department of Transportation, the DGCA ceased to belong to the Ministry of Economy and became part of this Department under the name of Directorate General of Air Transport (DGTA). In October 2001 the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador adopted the new reforms of the DGTA including the autonomy of the institution to become the Civil Aviation Authority. Beginning in 2005 the institution has been restructured to improve its technical staff and expanding the service coverage. By 22 March 2017, the Civil Aviation approved an Advisory Circular “Airports Emergency Plan” (CA No. 139-365-05), regarding a plan to be followed in case of emergency inside/outside the airports and airplanes. In follow-up to know the achievement of this plan. 

For more information on government agency and airport company contact information, please see the following links: 4.1 Government Contact List and 4.5 Airport Companies Contact List. 

Procedures for foreign registered aircrafts 

These are the steps to be followed to obtain the landing authorization in Comalapa airport: 

• Under normal conditions, a written request (to land in the national territory) needs to be submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Relationship (Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de El Salvador) 

• This Ministry will forward the request to the Ministry of National Defense. It is necessary to include in the request the type of aircraft, date of arrival and departure, objective of the operation, etc. 

• As required by the Civil Aviation Authority, for each aircraft that lands in El Salvador, the flight plan needs to be communicated to the Airport Authority.