US authorities have abruptly closed the airspace around El Paso international airport in Texas for 10 days for “special security reasons”, shutting off the skies for all aircraft in an area along the border with Mexico.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) posted the “temporary flight restriction” notice on its website late on Tuesday, stating that a 10-nautical-mile circle up to 18,000ft would be off limits for all commercial, cargo and general aviation flights.
“No pilots may operate an aircraft in the areas covered,” the FAA said. The closure will remain in place until 20 February.
It did not provide an explanation for the highly unusual move, but said it would not affect Mexican airspace.
The restrictions came so suddenly, with the FAA providing only three hours’ notice, that radio communications from El Paso international airport revealed a dumbfounded pilot of a passenger plane being told that they would not be able to leave the next day.
An air traffic controller can be heard asking the arriving Southwest flight if they plan to depart again. “Nah, we’ll go to the hotel,” the pilot can be heard saying.
“Roger,” replied the controller. “Just be advised there is a [temporary flight restriction] going into effect … at 0630 for the next 10 days.”
“So the airport is totally closed?” the pilot asks with a chuckle, to which the controller responds: “Apparently, we just got informed about 30 minutes to an hour ago.”
Temporary flight restrictions are issued for natural disasters, such as wildfires and hurricanes, as well as major sporting events and emergency or national security situations.
The airport said on its Facebook page that all flights to and from the airport would be grounded and travellers should contact their airlines to get the most up-to-date flight status information.
An airspace closure will have a significant impact on the city of nearly 700,000 people, which neighbours the city of Ciudad Juárez in Mexico.
El Paso airport, through which nearly 3.5 million passengers transited last year, operates multiple direct flights across the US. Photos taken early on Wednesday showed the airport halls nearly deserted. Employees told local media they were unsure what prompted the halt of all flights.
