F.A.A. Halts All Flights at El Paso Airport for 10 Days for ‘Security Reasons’

The agency provided no details, but its order will leave the nation’s 22nd-largest city without air service of any kind until Feb. 20.

The Federal Aviation Administration late Tuesday halted all flights to and from El Paso International Airport for 10 days, citing unspecified “special security reasons.”

In a move that appeared to surprise local officials and airlines, the restriction went into effect at 11:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday and will remain until Feb. 20 for the airspace over El Paso and the neighboring community Santa Teresa, N.M., the F.A.A. notices said. They did not detail the security reasons that prompted them.

The airport issued a travel advisory on social media saying that all flights to and from the airport had been grounded, including commercial, cargo and general aviation. It told travelers to contact their airlines for the latest status of their flights.

An operator who answered the phone at El Paso International Airport early Wednesday also confirmed that all flights have been halted because of an F.A.A. order.

The airport said in a statement that the restriction had been issued “on short notice” and that it was waiting for additional guidance from the F.A.A. In a notice, the F.A.A. said the federal government “may use deadly force” if an aircraft violating the airspace is determined to pose “an imminent security threat.”

Representative Joaquin Castro, a Democrat who represents San Antonio, said he had no idea what was going on. “Sorry, I don’t have some clear answer,” Mr. Castro said early Wednesday. When asked if this was surprising, he simply said, “Yes.”

When asked early Wednesday morning whether he was aware of the F.A.A. restriction, Texas State Representative Vincent Perez of El Paso said, “I don’t have any information on that.”

”I have never heard of an American airspace being shutdown for 10 days, absent a major emergency,” Mr. Perez added.

The F.A.A. did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The airport in El Paso, the 23rd-most populous city in the nation according to the 2020 census, serves a vast swath of West Texas and Eastern New Mexico.

The nearest U.S. city is Las Cruces, N.M., about 35 miles away, whose airport is served only by Advanced Air. El Paso is about a four-and-a-half hour drive from Midland-Odessa, Texas, seven hours from San Antonio, nine hours from Dallas and 10 hours from Houston.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5833567&forum_id=2\u0026hid=#49662601)

1. The government has received credible intelligence of an imminent terror attack in the area.

2.,The military is about to attack cartels in Mexico, possibly with surface to surface missiles, and doesn't want civilian planes getting hit by accident.

3. Some judge has ordered that ICE needs to fly a detainee back to Minnesota and released, so now ICE can claim they can't comply because there's a no-fly zone.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5833567&forum_id=2\u0026hid=#49662613)