The Federal Aviation Administration abruptly reopened airspace over El Paso on Wednesday in a dramatic reversal of its order to ground flights hours earlier.
The FAA’s highly unusual closure directive, which would have stopped all flights at El Paso International Airport for 10 days, was given late Tuesday in connection with unspecified “special security reasons.”
“The temporary closure of airspace over El Paso has been lifted,” the FAA said in a post on X. ”There is no threat to commercial aviation. All flights will resume as normal.”
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy claimed the airspace closure order had been caused by “a cartel drone incursion.”
In a post on X, he said, referencing the Defense Department as the Department of War: “The FAA and DOW acted swiftly to address a cartel drone incursion. The threat has been neutralized, and there is no danger to commercial travel in the region. The restrictions have been lifted and normal flights are resuming.”
But earlier reports had suggested a different explanation. A source familiar with the matter told CNN the airspace closure was linked to military operations at the nearby Biggs Army Airfield on Fort Bliss, while two sources briefed by Trump administration officials told The New York Times that it was driven by the Defense Department using new counter-drone technology.
Democratic Congresswoman Veronica Escobar, who represents El Paso, also questioned the drone explanation. “There have been drone incursions from Mexico going back to as long as drones existed,” Escobar said at a news conference, according to the Times.
“The drone incursion from Mexico—obviously not something any of us want to see. But this is not unusual, and there was nothing extraordinary about any drone incursion into the U.S. that I’m aware of.”
She added that the drone story is “not the information that we in Congress have been told.”
“There was not a threat, which is why the F.A.A. lifted this restriction so quickly,” Escobar said. “The information coming from the administration does not add up.”
Citing FAA sources before the order was lifted, CNN said the Department of Defense had been unable to guarantee civilian safety during its operation in the area.
The network’s aviation and transport correspondent, Pete Muntean, said in a post on X that a “source briefed by FAA tells me that military activity behind the El Paso flight ban included unmanned aircraft operations and laser countermeasure testing in airspace directly adjacent to civilian routes into El Paso International.”
Restrictions placed in southern New Mexico remain in place at the time of writing.
Southwest Airlines said it would resume operations at El Paso after suspending all flights. It said a policy put in place for affected customers would be honored, according to the Times.
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