El Paso flights resume after sudden closure due to drone security concerns

WASHINGTON, Feb 11 - Flights in and out of the Texas border city of El Paso resumed on Wednesday, after the U.S. government lifted a ban on air traffic it had abruptly imposed overnight due to concerns about a military anti-drone system.

The sudden closure of the nation's 71st busiest airport by the Federal Aviation Administration stranded air travelers and disrupted medical evacuation flights overnight, in what appeared to be an unprecedented action by the U.S. government. The FAA initially said the closure would last 10 days before lifting it after about seven and a half hours.

Government and airline officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the FAA closed the airspace due to concerns that a laser-based counter-drone system being tested by the U.S. Army could pose risks to air traffic.

The FAA lifted its restrictions after the Army agreed to more safety tests before using the system, which is being tested at Fort Bliss, next to El Paso International Airport.

The White House was surprised by the El Paso airspace closure, according to two sources speaking on condition of anonymity, touching off a scramble among law enforcement agencies to figure out what happened.

The FAA lifted the restrictions shortly after the situation was discussed in the office of White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, the sources said.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who oversees the FAA, said the closure had been prompted by a drone incursion by a Mexican drug cartel. However, a drone sighting near an airport would typically lead to a brief pause on traffic, not an extended closure, and officials say drone incursions in the El Paso region are common.

The move had stranded numerous aircraft from Southwest Airlines, United Airlines and American Airlines at the airport, which handles about 4 million passengers annually.

El Paso Mayor Renard Johnson said the FAA did not reach out to the airport, the police chief or other local officials before shutting down the airspace.

"I want to be very, very clear that this should have never happened," he said at a news conference.

The U.S. official in charge of airport security, Transportation Security Administration Acting Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill, also told Congress that she had not been notified.

"That's a problem," said Republican Representative Tony Gonzales of Texas, who said there are daily drone incursions along the U.S.-Mexico border.

AIRLINES CAUGHT OFF GUARD

Airlines were also caught off-guard by the early Wednesday announcement. Southwest Airlines said the effects should be minimal for its 23 daily departures scheduled.

“FAA has not exactly acquitted itself credibly, objectively, or professionally,” said Bob Mann, an airline industry consultant. "The question should be, do we get an explanation?"

Trump has repeatedly threatened to deploy U.S. military force against Mexican drug cartels, which have used drones to carry out surveillance and attacks on civilian and government infrastructure, according to U.S. and Mexican security sources.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said at her daily news conference that her administration would try to find out what exactly happened but had no information about drone traffic along the border.

Tensions between the U.S. and regional leaders have ramped up since the Trump administration mounted a large-scale military buildup in the southern Caribbean, attacked Venezuela and seized its president, Nicolas Maduro, in a military operation. The FAA curbed flights throughout the Caribbean after the attack, forcing the cancellation of hundreds of flights. REUTERS