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”.
While some officials claimed that Mexican cartel drones invaded US airspace, in recent days a balloon was reportedly mistaken for a drone.
The initial, vague citation of security concerns prompted still more questions as conflicting narratives surrounding this surprising closure and its abrupt reversal have since emerged.
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 the 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. It said the closure would remain in place until 20 February, and the notice warned that the government “may use deadly force” against any pilot who did 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 travelers 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.
Since then, officials have offered a range of narratives to explain the closure.
The US transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, said on Twitter/X: “The FAA and DOW [“department of war”] acted swiftly to address a cartel drone incursion.
“The threat has been neutralized,” Duffy also said, “and there is no danger to commercial travel in the region.’”
The New York Times, citing a source familiar with this shutdown, said the airspace closure was due to testing of anti-drone technology.
Donald Trump signed an executive order in June to develop anti-drone capacity, and said drug cartels were using drones to smuggle fentanyl.
CBS News later added still more intriguing reporting that sources had said the closure was due to FAA and Pentagon disagreements over “drone-related tests” involving a high-energy laser.
CBS News reported that this technology was deployed earlier this week to shoot down what were thought to be foreign drones. But the airborne object was just a party balloon, sources told the outlet, indicating that one balloon was brought down.
But a Democratic Texas congresswoman for El Paso, Veronica Escobar, took issue with Trump officials’ drone claim, saying it was “not the information that we in Congress have been told”.
“There was not a threat, which is why the FAA lifted this restriction so quickly,” the Times quoted Escobar as saying. “The information coming from the administration does not add up.”
Asked about the allegations of cartel drone activity, Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, said: “There is no information regarding drone use at the border. If the FAA or any other US government agency has any information, they can ask the Mexican government.
“Let’s not speculate. We will get the information and maintain what we have always maintained: constant communication.
“Mexico’s airspace wasn’t closed – Texas’s airspace was closed,” Sheinbaum added. “We’re going to find out exactly why.”
El Paso’s mayor, Renard Johnson, slammed the unexpected closure.
“I want to be very, very clear that this should’ve never happened,” the Times quoted him as saying. “You cannot restrict air space over a major city without coordinating with the city, the airport, the hospitals, the community leadership.
“That failure to communicate is unacceptable.”
Before the FAA reversed its decision, 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 travelers 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 neighbors 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.
Oscar Lopez in Mexico City contributed reporting
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: theguardian.com
