Flights to and from the Texas border city of El Paso resumed on Monday after bureaucratic wrangling over a secret military anti-drone system prompted the administration of US President Donald Trump to ban air traffic for more than seven hours, Reuters reported.
The sudden closure of the 71st busiest airport in the US by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has stranded passengers and disrupted medical evacuation flights overnight. The FAA initially said the closure would last for ten days, which would be a precedent for a single measure affecting a single airport.
Government and airline officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the FAA closed the airspace over concerns that a laser anti-drone system being tested by the U.S. military could pose a risk to air traffic. The two agencies had planned to discuss the matter later this month, but the military, according to the sources, decided to proceed without FAA approval.
The FAA lifted the restrictions after the military agreed to additional safety testing before using the system, which is located at Fort Bliss, next to El Paso International Airport.
The White House was surprised by the closure of airspace over El Paso, according to two sources who spoke on condition of anonymity, which triggered a flurry of coordination among law enforcement agencies to determine 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 was caused by a drone intrusion by a Mexican drug cartel. However, drone sightings near airports typically result in brief traffic disruptions rather than long-term closures, and the Pentagon says there are more than 1.000 such incidents a month along the U.S.-Mexico border, according to Reuters.
This decision has kept numerous Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, and American Airlines aircraft at the airport, and the airport serves about four million passengers annually.
El Paso Mayor Renard Johnson said the FAA did not contact the airport, the police chief or other local officials before closing the airspace.
"I want to be completely, completely clear: this should never have happened," he said at a news conference.
The acting director of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Ha Nguyen McNeil, who is in charge of airport security, also told Congress that she was not notified.
"That's a problem," said Republican Congressman Tony Gonzalez of Texas, noting that drone incursions occur daily along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Airlines caught
Airlines were also caught off guard by this morning's announcement. Southwest Airlines said the impact should be minimal for its 23 scheduled daily departures.
"The FAA has not exactly come across as credible, objective or professional. The question should be: are we getting an explanation?" said Bob Mann, an airline industry consultant.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to use the US military against Mexican drug cartels, who, according to US and Mexican security sources, have used drones for reconnaissance and attacks on civilian and government infrastructure.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said at a press conference that her administration would try to determine exactly what happened, but that she had no information about drone traffic along the border.
Tensions between the US and regional leaders have escalated after the Trump administration launched a major military buildup in the southern Caribbean Sea, invaded Venezuela and captured its President Nicolas Maduro in a military operation. The FAA restricted flights across the Caribbean following the attack, leading to the cancellation of hundreds of flights.
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