A dispute between the Federal Aviation Administration and the Pentagon resulted in the unusual but brief closure of the airspace over El Paso, Texas, Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, according to multiple news reports.
The Defense Department planned to test a laser that could shoot down drones used by Mexican drug cartels, according to The Associated Press. But rather than wait to coordinate the test with the FAA, Defense officials reportedly decided to try out the laser immediately. That prompted the FAA to close the airspace, and to shut down flights into and out of El Paso International Airport.
The FAA initially attributed the closure to “special security reasons,” saying the space would be off limits for 10 days. Aircraft that entered the area would be intercepted or, if necessary to deal with an imminent security threat, shot down, officials said.
The restricted zone encompassed most of El Paso County and extended into southern New Mexico, but did not include Mexican airspace.
Hours later, however, the FAA reopened the area to air traffic.
“The temporary closure of airspace over El Paso has been lifted,” the FAA said in a post on X shortly before 9 a.m. Eastern time. “There is no threat to commercial aviation. All flights will resume as normal.”
Why did it close?
Shortly after the FAA’s reversal, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said officials ordered the closure because Mexican cartel drones breached American airspace.
Duffy added that “the threat has been neutralized, and there is no danger to commercial travel in the region.” Airlines were resuming their normal flight schedules, he said.
He did not address why the FAA initially ordered a 10-day closure.
However, the AP quoted sources as saying the closure stemmed from the Pentagon’s planned laser test at Fort Bliss, an Army base outside El Paso.
The FAA expressed concerns about the plan, specifically wanting to ensure commercial air safety, so the two agencies planned to coordinate. Even though the Pentagon and the FAA had scheduled a meeting later this month, Defense officials decided to go ahead with the test, the AP said.
It is unclear whether the laser was ultimately deployed.
For months, the Trump administration has said it planned to neutralize drones used by some Mexican cartels. One official told Congress that 27,000 drones had flown within 500 meters of the border during a six-month period in 2024.
When asked Wednesday about the Trump administration’s report of a drone incursion, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum expressed skepticism, The New York Times reported.
“There is no information about the use of drones at the border,” she said.
Community taken by surprise
Local officials say they were given no advance notice of the airspace closure.
Speaking Wednesday at a news conference, El Paso Mayor Renard Johnson called the closure “a major and unnecessary disruption, one that has not occurred since 9/11.”
“Decisions made without notice and coordination puts lives at risk and creates unnecessary danger and confusion,” he said.
Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, whose district includes El Paso, said she did not believe that the shutdown was based on a cartel’s drone entering U.S. airspace. That, she said, “is not what we in Congress have been told.”
“I believe the FAA owes the community and the country an explanation as to why this happened so suddenly and abruptly and was lifted so suddenly and abruptly,” Escobar said.
“There was not a threat, which is why the FAA lifted this restriction so quickly,” she said. “The information coming from the federal government does not add up.”
