The top US aviation agency has lifted a surprise 10-day closure of airspace above the US-Mexico border town of El Paso, Texas, just hours after it abruptly announced that it would close off the skies for “special security reasons”, without providing further explanation.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) posted the “temporary flight restriction” notice on its website late on Tuesday local time, stating that a 10-nautical-mile circle up to 18,000ft around El Paso international airport in Texas would be off limits for all commercial, cargo and general aviation flights.
“No pilots may operate an aircraft in the areas covered,” the FAA said. The closure will remain in place until 20 February, and the notice warned the government “may use deadly force” against a pilot who does not comply with the instructions.
But by Wednesday morning, and after hours of mayhem in which both airlines, local politicians and tens of thousands of travellers were caught off guard, the FAA wrote on X that the order had been lifted. “There is no threat to commercial aviation. All flights will resume as normal,” it said.
Reuters cited unnamed airline sources as saying the grounding of flights was tied to the Pentagon’s use of counter-drone technology to address Mexican drug cartels’ use of drones in the border area. Donald Trump signed an executive order in June to develop anti-drone capacity, and said drug cartels were using drones to smuggle fentanyl.
A US administration official was later quoted as saying Mexican cartel drones had breached US airspace.
Before the FAA reversed its decision, a Democratic Texas congresswoman for El Paso, Veronica Escobar, had called on the agency to lift what she said was a highly consequential and unprecedented decision that “resulted in significant concern within the community”.
“From what my office and I have been able to gather overnight and early this morning there is no immediate threat to the community or surrounding areas,” she wrote on X. “There was no advance notice provided to my office, the City of El Paso, or anyone involved in airport operations.”
A large area west of El Paso, and along the border with Mexico, was also shut down for the same period. It is not clear if that airspace will reopen.
The restrictions came so suddenly, with the FAA providing only three hours’ notice, that radio communications from El Paso international airport revealed a dumbfounded pilot of a passenger plane being told that they would not be able to leave the next day.
An air traffic controller can be heard asking the arriving Southwest flight if they plan to depart again. “Nah, we’ll go to the hotel,” the pilot can be heard saying in audio captured by atc.com, a live air traffic radio company.
“Roger,” replied the controller. “Just be advised there is a [temporary flight restriction] going into effect … at 0630 for the next 10 days.”
“So the airport is totally closed?” the pilot asks with a chuckle, to which the controller responds: “Apparently, we just got informed about 30 minutes to an hour ago.”
Temporary flight restrictions are issued for natural disasters, such as wildfires and hurricanes, as well as major sporting events and emergency or national security situations.
While the ban was still in place overnight, the airport said on its Facebook page that all flights to and from the airport would be grounded and travellers should contact their airlines to get the most up-to-date flight status information.
An airspace closure would have had a significant impact on the city of nearly 700,000 people, which neighbours the city of Ciudad Juárez in Mexico.
El Paso airport, through which nearly 3.5 million passengers transited last year, operates multiple direct flights across the US. Photos taken early on Wednesday showed the airport halls nearly deserted. Employees told local media they were unsure what prompted the halt of all flights.
