The Federal Aviation Administration's abrupt overnight closure of airspace over El Paso International Airport — and its reversal hours later — triggered "chaos and confusion" across the Texas border city, Mayor Renard Johnson said Wednesday.
Johnson harshly criticized the FAA during a morning press conference, saying city officials and local law enforcement were not alerted in advance and instead learned of the restriction at the same time as the public.
"I want to be very, very clear that this should have never happened," Johnson said, calling the FAA's move "unnecessary."
He added that "you cannot restrict airspace over a major city without coordinating with the city, the airport, the hospitals, the community leadership. That failure to communicate is unacceptable."
The FAA issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) around 1:30 a.m. ET Wednesday grounding flights for what it described only as "special security reasons." The order initially indicated the restriction would remain in effect for 10 days, through Feb. 21.
Less than eight hours later, shortly before 9 a.m., the agency lifted the restriction.
"There is no threat to commercial aviation. All flights will resume as normal," the FAA said in a post on X.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy later confirmed the temporary shutdown was implemented to "swiftly address a cartel drone incursion."
"The threat has been neutralized, and there is no danger to the commercial travel in the region," Duffy wrote on X.
According to Johnson, the closure grounded all flights, including emergency aircraft, forcing medical evacuation flights to divert to Las Cruces, New Mexico, about 45 miles away.
"I don't know the exact number of flights, but I can tell you that there was a lot of surgical equipment that was coming in from Dallas and other parts of the country to do surgeries here in our community," Johnson said. "That type of equipment did not show up here in El Paso."
He added that the disruption rippled through the local economy, affecting passengers, rental car companies, and small businesses.
"This was a major and unnecessary disruption. One that has not occurred since 9/11," Johnson said.
At the time of his press conference, Johnson said he had yet to receive a direct explanation from the FAA. Local leaders, he said, had not been "notified of anything" prior to the airspace restriction.
While the FAA is not explicitly required to notify municipal officials before restricting airspace, Johnson argued that failing to coordinate with local authorities created avoidable consequences.
"El Paso deserves better communication and better coordination," he said. "We will be following up with the FAA to make sure that this never happens again."
The White House pushed back on the mayor's criticism, saying "the Trump administration will always [act] swiftly to safeguard America's national security. The FAA closed El Paso airspace in response to a cartel drone threat, and swiftly lifted the airspace closure after the threat was neutralized."
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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