FAA abruptly lifts order halting El Paso flights; Trump official says Defense Dept. disabled Mexican cartel drones

The Federal Aviation Administration abruptly grounded all flights in and out of El Paso International Airport in Texas for 10 days starting Wednesday morning, citing “special security” instructions — and then lifted the order hours later.

A Trump administration official said the Department of Defense disabled Mexican cartel drones that had breached U.S. airspace and that there was no threat to commercial air travel currently.

“The temporary closure of airspace over El Paso has been lifted,” the FAA said in a post on X. “There is no threat to commercial aviation. All flights will resume as normal.”

The airport sits next to Biggs Army Airfield and is near the Mexican border, about 12 miles from Juarez, Mexico.

Flights were initially halted until late Feb. 20 and the ban applied to a 10-nautical-mile area around the airport. The FAA hadn’t immediately disclosed the security reasons for the temporary sudden halt or why it was set for so long.

While the FAA regularly halts flights at airports for weather, traffic or even rocket launches, a security issue is highly unusual, as is announcing such a long effective airspace closure.

Some Democratic lawmakers criticized the Trump administration for how the sudden order played out.

Rep. Rick Larsen of Washington, the ranking member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and Rep. André Carson of Indiana, ranking member of the subcommittee on aviation, called it “unacceptable.”

“While we’re not happy with the disruption, we commend the FAA for taking swift action to protect travelers and ensure the safety of U.S. airspace,” they said in a joint statement. “We look forward to pursuing a bipartisan solution that strengthens interagency coordination and ensures that the Department of Defense will not jeopardize safety and disrupt the freedom to travel.”

U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, a Texas Democrat whose district includes much of El Paso, said the move to suddenly close airspace was “unprecedented.”

“There was no advance notice provided to my office, the City of El Paso, or anyone involved in airport operations,” she said in a statement.

Nearly 3.5 million passengers passed through the airport in the first 11 months of 2025 and it is served by Southwest Airlines, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, United Airlines and Frontier Airlines, according to airport data.

There were 1,314 departures scheduled for the El Paso airport this month, according to aviation data firm Cirium, including about 40 departures on Wednesday.

Southwest has 23 flights scheduled at the airport Wednesday, out of more than 3,000 systemwide. The airline said Wednesday it is resuming operations to and from El Paso and encouraged travelers to check its website for updated information.

“Nothing is more important to Southwest than the Safety of its Customers and Employees,” it said.

United said it didn’t cancel any flights and that it canceled an earlier travel waiver.