El Paso flights resume, Trump official says cartel drones breached airspace

Texas - After initially reporting temporary flight restrictions to El Paso International Airport would ground flights for 10 days, the Federal Aviation Administration says the closure has been lifted.

In a statement on X, the FAA stated: The temporary closure of airspace over El Paso has been lifted. There is no threat to commercial aviation. All flights will resume as normal."

Trump administration response to closure

What we know:

According to the Associated Press, a Trump administration official reports the closure came after Mexican cartel drones breached the airspace. The Defense Department was able to disable the drones.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stated on X that the FAA and Defense Department acted swiftly, and the threat was "neutralized."

There is no threat to commercial travel and flights will resume as normal, Sec. Duffy reports.

What we don't know:

Officials have not said how many drones were involved and how they were disabled.

El Paso airspace briefly closed

The backstory:

According to the FAA website, the temporary flight restrictions was supposed to run from Feb. 10 at 11:30 p.m. MST to Feb. 20 at 11:30 p.m. MST. The reason for the restriction was reported as "special security reasons."

The Mexican airspace was excluded from this airspace closure.

Early Wednesday morning, the El Paso International Airport stated all commercial, cargo, and general aviation flights are grounded at this time until the restrictions have ended.

The AP said the shutdown would likely to cause disruptions due to the size of the metropolitan area.

What they're saying:

Texas Senator César Blanco from the 29th district stated:

Our office is aware of the FAA’s temporary suspension of flights in and out of El Paso for national security reasons. We are actively working with the appropriate agencies to better understand the situation. Actions like this are taken out of an abundance of caution to protect our community. I encourage everyone to remain calm and patient as we await further information. We will share updates as they become available.