The White House has confirmed the reason that all airspace around El Paso, Texas, was closed down for ‘special security reasons’.
All fights from the city - home to over a million people - were grounded earlier today without reason, but now an update has been issued.
El Paso airspace was completely closed for ‘special security reasons’
The restrictions were put in place earlier by the Federal Aviation Adminstration (FAA) and had been thought to be in effect for 10 days.
The ban included all commercial and private flights, meaning that all departures from the city’s airport were cancelled at short notice.
The sudden NOTAM - notice to airmen - instantly grounded all flights out of El Paso International Airport as the safety and security of those flights could not be guaranteed.
It had previously been cited that the airspace was closed for ‘special security reasons’ but it was not revealed what those reasons were, leading to wild speculation online.
Some of that speculation centered around a nearby military base, but ranged as far as suggestions that UFOs were involved.
Sadly - depending on your perspective - it wasn’t that.
Even lawmakers were taken aback by the speed of the ban, with Congresswoman Victoria Escobar admitting that it was unusual and confirming that she was still attempting to get the full facts of the situation.
Earlier on February 11, she said: “The highly consequential decision by FAA to shut down the El Paso Airport for 10 days is unprecedented and has resulted in significant concern within the community,
“From what my office and I have been able to gather overnight and early this morning there is no immediate threat to the community or surrounding areas.”
However, there was a threat, according to Donald Trump’s government.
Mexican cartel drones reportedly behind the closure
In a statement to Newsweek, a White House official provided an update on the closure, stating that Mexican cartel drones were to blame, and that the Department of War had to close the airspace to make it safe to remove them.
The statement read: "Mexican cartel drones breached US airspace. The Department of War took action to disable the drones.
"The FAA and DOW have determined there is no threat to commercial travel."
Now, the FAA has confirmed that the ban has been lifted and flights will be taking off from the airports within the 10 nautical miles around and up to 18,000 feet upwards.
On X, the FAA wrote: "The temporary closure of airspace over El Paso has been lifted.
“There is no threat to commercial aviation.
“All flights will resume as normal.”
No further information about the cartel drones has been released.