FAA abruptly lifts order halting El Paso flights; Trump official says Defense Dept. disabled Mexican cartel drones

The Federal Aviation Administration abruptly grounded all flights out and in of El Paso Worldwide Airport in Texas for 10 days beginning Wednesday morning, citing “particular safety” directions — after which lifted the order hours later.

A Trump administration official mentioned the Division of Defense disabled Mexican cartel drones that had breached U.S. airspace and that there was no risk to industrial air journey presently.

“The momentary closure of airspace over El Paso has been lifted,” the FAA mentioned in a publish on X. “There is no such thing as a risk to industrial aviation. All flights will resume as regular.”

The airport sits subsequent to Biggs Military Airfield and is close to the Mexican border, about 12 miles from Juarez, Mexico. The Pentagon referred a query in regards to the nature of the safety problem to the FAA.

Flights had been initially halted till late Feb. 20 and the ban utilized to a 10-nautical-mile space across the airport. The FAA hadn’t instantly disclosed what the safety causes for the momentary sudden halt had been or why it was set for therefore lengthy.

Whereas the FAA repeatedly halts flights at airports for climate, site visitors and even rocket launches, a safety problem is extremely uncommon, as is saying such an extended efficient airspace closure.

U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, a Texas Democrat whose district contains a lot of El Paso, mentioned the transfer to all of the sudden shut airspace was “unprecedented.”

“There was no advance discover supplied to my workplace, the Metropolis of El Paso, or anybody concerned in airport operations,” she mentioned in an announcement.

The airport served practically 3.5 million individuals within the first 11 months of 2025 and is served by Southwest Airways, Delta Air Traces, American Airways, United Airways and Frontier Airways, in response to airport information.

There have been 1,314 departures scheduled for the El Paso airport this month, in response to aviation-data agency Cirium, together with about 40 departures on Wednesday.

Southwest has 23 flights scheduled on the airport, out of greater than 3,000 systemwide. The airline mentioned Wednesday it’s resuming operations to and from El Paso and inspired vacationers to test its web site for up to date data.

“Nothing is extra essential to Southwest than the Security of its Clients and Workers,” it mentioned.

United mentioned it did not cancel any flights and that it canceled an earlier journey waiver.