Without explanation, FAA closes El Paso and New Mexico airspace for 10 days, cites national defense
The FAA has shut down airspace over El Paso and parts of southern New Mexico for 10 days under an unexplained national defense order, halting commercial and private flights.
Unexplained federal order designates “national defense airspace,” grounding flights and affecting southern New Mexico travel through Feb. 20.
Robert Moore, El Paso Matters
This article was originally published by El Paso Matters.
OMN UPDATE (7:23 a.m.):
The Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday morning that the temporary closure of airspace over El Paso has been lifted and that there is no threat to commercial aviation. “All flights will resume as normal,” the agency said in a social media post.
Restricted airspace previously extended into parts of southern New Mexico. Federal officials have not publicly explained what prompted the sudden shutdown or why it was lifted.
The Federal Aviation Administration issued unexplained notices late Tuesday closing airspace over El Paso and a large patch of southern New Mexico west of Santa Teresa for 10 days. El Paso International Airport is closed to all flights, the city said.
The orders close off all air travel in the affected area, which could cause massive disruption in the nation’s 23rd largest city.
“THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION (FAA) CLASSIFIES THE AIRSPACE DEFINED IN THIS NOTAM AS ‘NTL DEFENSE AIRSPACE’. PILOTS WHO DO NOT ADHERE TO THE FOLLOWING PROC MAY BE INTERCEPTED, DETAINED AND INTERVIEWED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT/SECURITY PERSONNEL,” the notices said.
“THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT MAY USE DEADLY FORCE AGAINST THE AIRBORNE ACFT, IF IT IS DETERMINED THAT THE ACFT POSES AN IMMINENT SECURITY THREAT,” the notice continued.
The notices, known as Notice to Air Missions, or NOTAM, took effect at 11:30 p.m. Mountain Time Tuesday, and expire at 11:30 p.m. Feb. 20.
The El Paso city government issued an advisory early Wednesday that flights at El Paso International Airport are canceled.
“The FAA, on short notice, issued a temporary flight restriction halting all flights to and from El Paso and our neighboring community, Santa Teresa, NM. The restriction prohibits all aircraft operations (including commercial, cargo and general aviation) and is effective from February 10 at 11:30 PM (MST) to February 20 at 11:30PM (MST),” the city said in a news release.
“Airport staff has reached out to the FAA, and we are pending additional guidance. In the meanwhile, commercial airlines operating out of El Paso are being informed of the restriction, which appears to be security related. Travelers are encouraged to contact their airlines to get the latest information on their flight status.”
Closing off airspace over a major U.S. city is a rare action, and officials with the Federal Aviation Administration didn’t immediately respond to questions from El Paso Matters on the reasons for the action.
A person familiar with the notices, who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly, said the action to close airspace over a major U.S. for security reasons over extended period hasn’t happened since immediately after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
“All air traffic has been halted in a 10 nautical mile range around the airport, so encompassing El Paso and Fort Bliss, from the ground to 17,000 feet. So no aircraft in or out, regardless of what they are, whether it’s air carriers, military, medevac helicopters, law enforcement. Nobody can fly as this thing is written up,” the person said.
The notices include a phone number at the FAA’s Special Operations Support Center to call for more information. A man identifying himself as Eric spoke briefly to El Paso Matters late Tuesday and said he couldn’t explain the reason for the notices.
“Not really, not because I won’t, it’s because I don’t know. I mean, this is just the office that publishes. So we’re handed the sheets and they say go with it,” Eric said.
The restricted airspace covers most of El Paso County, but doesn’t include Mexican airspace, according to information provided by the FAA.
It also includes a large area of southern New Mexico west of San Teresa, but not the airport in the suburb west of El Paso. The restricted New Mexico airspace goes from the Mexican border on the south to the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument to the north.
Robert Moore is the founder and CEO of El Paso Matters. He has been a journalist in the Texas Borderlands since 1986.
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