FAA abruptly closes El Paso airspace for 10 days over unspecified security concerns
By Karina Tsui, Diego Mendoza, CNN
(CNN) — The Federal Aviation Administration abruptly issued a temporary flight restriction that immediately grounds all flights to and from El Paso International Airport in Texas for 10 days — a shutdown that’s likely to create significant disruptions in one of America’s largest cities.
The sudden pause over El Paso, along with an area of southern New Mexico, is due to “special security reasons,” according to the FAA’s website. The FAA did not provide additional details.
An FAA notice classifies the area as “(National) Defense Airspace” and says pilots who violate the restriction could be intercepted, detained and questioned by law enforcement.
It warns that additional actions could be taken for pilots who don’t adhere to the restrictions, including suspension of flight certifications, criminal charges, and that the US government “may use deadly force” if an aircraft poses an “imminent security threat.”
The agency issued the restriction “on short notice,” and airport staff have reached out for further guidance, the airport said in another statement to CNN affiliate KFOX. El Paso International Airport said all commercial, cargo and general aviation flights would be grounded until February 20.
“It’s a complete ground stop … not even medevac are allowed to fly,” an air-traffic controller was heard telling flight crews of the imminent airspace closure Tuesday night.
“Wow,” a flight crew member is heard responding in flight control audio recorded by the website LiveATC.net.
El Paso, with a population of nearly 700,000, is the sixth largest city in Texas and one of the 25 largest in the United States. It is a hub of cross-border commerce alongside neighboring Ciudad Juarez in Mexico.
Nearly 3.5 million passengers passed through El Paso International Airport in the first 11 months of 2025, according to its website. The airport describes itself as the gateway to west Texas, southern New Mexico and northern Mexico.
The airspace closure is expected to be extremely disruptive for El Paso, a major industrial hub, Robert Moore, the founder and CEO of news site El Paso Matters, told CNN.
“We’ve never seen anything like this here at least since 9/11, when everything was grounded,” he said.
CNN has reached out to the FAA and El Paso International Airport for more information.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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