FAA abruptly halted El Paso flights amid drone threat; how US protects its airspace

US aviation authorities halted flights to and from El Paso International Airport on Tuesday, citing “special security reasons,” the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said.The restrictions imposed at 11.30 pm were lifted less than eight hours later.The order had initially been expected to last 10 days and covered about a 16km radius around the city, including nearby Santa Teresa, and aircraft below roughly 18,000 feet. According to The New York Times, the airport confirmed that all commercial, cargo and general aviation flights were grounded, while an official said operations had stopped because of an FAA order.According to The National Interest, North American air defence is built as a layered network. NORAD integrates long-range radar, space-based infrared satellites and FAA flight-tracking data into a real-time continental picture, while over-the-horizon radar, Aegis ship systems and airborne early-warning aircraft extend surveillance far beyond US shores.Fighter jets such as F-15s, F-16s, F-22s and F-35s remain on Quick Reaction Alert to intercept unidentified aircraft. Behind the Quick Reaction Alert fighters lies a deeper strategic shield made up of missile-defence systems such as Patriot, THAAD, Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense, and the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense interceptors stationed in Alaska and California. Working together, these layers are designed to guard the United States against both regional and long-range missile threats. Above this terrestrial network, a global array of early-warning satellites and space-based sensors relays real-time data to US Northern Command and the National Military Command Center. The result is a multi-tiered system built with overlapping capabilities to ensure resilience and avoid reliance on any single point of defence.The system is designed to deter threats through the certainty of detection and rapid response, though analysts note low-flying drones can still exploit radar blind spots.According to Al Jazeera, US officials have long warned that Mexican cartels use drones for surveillance and smuggling. A Department of Homeland Security official told Congress that more than 27,000 drones were detected within 500 metres of the border in the last six months of 2024 — about 326 flights a day.Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum rejected claims of cross-border drone incursions, saying there was no information to support them. Transportation secretary Sean Duffy said authorities had responded to a cartel drone incursion and that “the threat has been neutralized”. White House and Pentagon officials echoed that account.Representative Veronica Escobar questioned the official narrative, saying: “The information coming from the federal government does not add up.” Mayor Renard Johnson added: “You cannot restrict airspace over a major city without coordinating… That failure to communicate is unacceptable", reported Al Jazeera.However, people briefed on the situation told media outlets the shutdown may instead have been triggered by concerns over a US military test of high-energy laser technology designed to counter drones near a base next to the airport. Meetings on safety had been scheduled with the FAA, but the Defence Department moved sooner, prompting regulators to halt flights, CBS News reported.The shutdown risked disruption in one of the 25 most populous US cities, home to nearly 700,000 residents. A restriction of this scale has reportedly been imposed only once before in El Paso — after the September 11, 2001 attacks, when US airspace was closed nationwide. About 3.5 million passengers passed through the airport between January and November 2025.