The Federal Aviation Administration abruptly grounded all flights at Texas’ El Paso International Airport for 10 days starting Wednesday morning, citing “extraordinary safety” directives, before reversing the order hours later.

Trump administration officials said the Defense Department has banned Mexican cartel drones that violate U.S. airspace and that there is currently no threat to commercial air travel.

“The temporary closure of El Paso airspace has been lifted. There is no threat to commercial aviation. All flights will return to normal,” the FAA said in a post on X.

The airport is adjacent to Biggs Army Airfield, near the Mexican border and approximately 12 miles from Juarez, Mexico. The Pentagon raised questions with the FAA about the nature of the safety concerns.

Flights were initially suspended until late February 20, with the ban applying to a 10 nautical mile area around the airport. The FAA did not immediately disclose what the safety reasons were for the temporary suspension or why it took so long.

While the FAA often suspends flights at airports due to weather, traffic and even other reasons rocket launchsafety concerns are highly unusual, as is the announcement of an airspace closure that is in effect for such a long period of time.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar of Texas, whose district includes much of El Paso, said the sudden move to close the airspace was “unprecedented” and said “information my office and I have gathered overnight and early this morning indicates there is no immediate threat to the community or surrounding areas.”

“Neither my office, the City of El Paso, nor anyone involved in airport operations received advance notice,” she said in a statement. “We have urged the FAA to immediately lift the temporary flight restrictions in the El Paso area.”

In the first 11 months of 2025, the airport served nearly 3.5 million passengers, driven by Southwest Airlines, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, United Airlines and Frontier Airlinesaccording to airport data.

There were 1,314 flights to the El Paso airport this month, according to aviation data company Cirium.

United is waiving change fees for customers who need to change flights due to airspace closures. Southwest Airlines said it has contacted affected passengers.

“Nothing is more important to Southwest than the safety of our customers and employees,” it said.