The Federal Aviation Administration dropped unprecedented airspace restrictions for El Paso after seven hours Wednesday morning, but not before flights were canceled at El Paso International Airport and El Pasoans were gripped by anxiety.
The disruption was a result of disagreements between the FAA and the Pentagon over use of anti-drone technology at Fort Bliss, said Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-New Mexico, who represents an area of southern New Mexico west of El Paso that also was placed under flight restrictions. Vasquez’s statement confirmed multiple media reports that testing of the laser-based system was at the heart of the FAA’s decision to order the closure of El Paso’s airspace for 10 days.
“Through my conversations with federal and local officials, it has become abundantly clear the FAA was tracking the (Department of Defense’s) counter drone tests for multiple days, and the FAA responded — in error — with the disproportionate response of abruptly closing our airspace for 10 days. The statements this administration has put out about the situation are misleading at best and a coverup for their incompetence at worst,” Vasquez said in a statement.
In a news conference Wednesday morning, Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, declined to give specifics on the cause of the airspace restrictions but put the blame on the FAA.
“I want to emphasize that this was an FAA decision, but what I can say is that nothing happening on Fort Bliss would have impacted the El Paso airport or its operations,” she said.
In a social media post, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the FAA and what the Trump administration calls the Department of War acted “to address a cartel drone incursion.”
Escobar and Vasquez rejected Duffy’s statement.
“I believe the FAA owes the community and the country an explanation as to why this happened so suddenly and abruptly, and was lifted so suddenly and abruptly. And based on the information I have right now, which is the same information that the House Armed Services Committee has been provided … that is not … what we in Congress have been told,” Escobar said.
Vasquez said: “Let’s be clear — the administration has provided no proof of a drone incursion that would warrant this large scale, 10-day response. Our nation can prepare for these threats without causing chaos and inducing unwarranted fear.”
The FAA hasn’t responded to requests for comment from El Paso Matters.
Late Tuesday, the FAA issued what are known as Notice to Air Missions, or NOTAM, alerting pilots that the air space over most of El Paso and over a large swath of New Mexico land west of Santa Teresa would be closed for 10 days for national security reasons.
The restrictions took effect at 11:30 p.m., and the notices warned pilots that “the United States government may use deadly force against the airborne aircraft, if it is determined that the aircraft poses an imminent security threat.”
The FAA announced shortly before 7 a.m. Wednesday on social media that the El Paso airspace restrictions had been lifted.
Mayor Renard Johnson during a Wednesday morning press conference criticized the FAA for the disruption – and for not notifying El Paso leaders about the restriction.
“This was a major and unnecessary disruption, one that has not occurred since 9/11,” Johnson said. “El Paso is not just a dot on the map. We are a major, major city. We are the sixth largest city in the state of Texas, and we are the 22nd largest city in the United States. Without hospital military operations and emergency services and critical infrastructures that depend on coordinated and reliable aerospace operations, decisions made without notice or coordination puts lives at risk and creates unnecessary danger and confusion.”
Johnson said city leaders would be “following up with the FAA to make sure that this never happens again.”
The New Mexico restrictions remain in place. Escobar said she was told why the New Mexico restrictions remained in place, but declined to share the information with news media.
Airlines canceled 14 flights in and out of El Paso International Airport before the FAA lifted the restrictions, according to FlightAware, an online service that tracks flight cancellations and delays.
Airport officials urged people with travel plans Wednesday to check with their airlines.
A 10-day shutdown of El Paso’s airspace would have resulted in substantial economic losses to El Paso. Even the shutdown of a few hours likely cost El Paso about $1.5 million in lost income and 1,800 lost airline passengers, University of Texas at El Paso economist Tom Fullerton said.
El Paso International Airport “is a crucial component of the regional economy and that is why so many local elected leaders expressed multiple concerns this morning,” Fullerton said.
Leila Melendez, chief executive officer at Workforce Solutions Borderplex, said it is hard to forecast the effect of an airspace closure, but the immediate effects include fear and panic and that hurts efficiency. It is a distraction that creates a ripple effect that keeps employees from their duties.
“It freezes production and creates chaos,” she said.
The sweeping decision to close all air traffic over a major U.S. city appeared to have no precedent because it prevented flights by law enforcement and emergency medical personnel, according to a person familiar with the notices, who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.
“All air traffic has been halted in a 10-nautical-mile range around the airport, so, encompassing El Paso and Fort Bliss, from the ground to 17,000 feet. So, no aircraft in or out, regardless of what they are, whether it’s air carriers, military, medevac helicopters, law enforcement. Nobody can fly as this thing is written up,” the person said.
Flight restrictions after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C., had exceptions for public safety aircraft.
In her news conference, Escobar stressed that there never was an immediate threat to El Paso.
“There’s no threat. There was not a threat, and which is why the FAA lifted this restriction so quickly,” she said.
Escobar said she was made aware of the air restrictions by a federal government employee, whom she would not identify. She said the FAA provided no notice to her, local government officials or El Paso International Airport.
She said the lack of information from the FAA added to the anxiety in El Paso.
“I can tell you, I was getting outreach from people asking, ‘Do we need to leave the vicinity? What is happening? What is going on?’” Escobar said.
“That is not the way that the federal government should operate. Any impact of this magnitude needs to be communicated with clarity and with advanced notice,” she said.
Escobar said drone activity along the U.S.-Mexico border has been a well-known problem in the El Paso-Ciudad Juárez region.
“Those of us who live in El Paso likely have known that there have been drone incursions from Mexico going back to as long as drones existed. So, this is nothing new, and this drone incursion from Mexico (was) obviously not something any of us want to see. But this is not unusual, and there was nothing extraordinary about the drone, any drone incursion into the U.S. that I’m aware of,” Escobar said.
The remaining airspace restrictions cover a large area of southern New Mexico west of Santa Teresa, but not the airport in the suburb west of El Paso. The restricted New Mexico airspace goes from the Mexican border on the south to the Organ Mountains-Desert Peak National Monument to the north.
Editor’s Note: 2:15 p.m. Feb. 11: This story has been updated with comments and information from Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-New Mexico, as well as other sources.
