FAA lifts airspace restrictions over southern New Mexico

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, Feb 13 (Reuters) – The Federal Aviation Administration has lifted restrictions barring flights over a large swath of southern New Mexico late Tuesday that were supposed to last for 10 days, lawmakers said Friday.

The FAA had issued orders barring flights to and from the nearby airport in El Paso, Texas, as well as southern New Mexico, citing “special security reasons.”

The FAA lifted the restrictions over El Paso after a few hours early Wednesday but had kept the restrictions over New Mexico without explanation.

“Southern New Mexicans and El Pasoans deserve answers and transparency,” said Representative Gabe Vasquez, a New Mexico Democrat.

The sudden closure of the nation’s 71st busiest airport by the FAA stranded air travelers and disrupted medical evacuation flights overnight. The 10-day shutdown would have been an unprecedented action involving a single airport.

The FAA did not immediately comment or say precisely when it had lifted the southern New Mexico flight ban.

The FAA had acted to halt flights in Texas because of safety concerns posed by the use of a military laser-based anti-drone system that posed unacceptable safety risks and had been used earlier, sources told Reuters.

It is not clear what prompted the New Mexico closure.

Senator Ben Ray Lujan, a New Mexico Democrat, has called for a full briefing on what happened.

“The breakdown in communication between the FAA, local and state officials, and federal agencies is unacceptable and undermines the safety of our airspace,” Lujan said. “This incident raises serious concerns.”

Government and airline officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the FAA closed the airspace due to concerns that an Army laser-based counter-drone system could pose risks to air traffic that was used earlier by the Homeland Security Department.

The two agencies had planned to discuss the issue on February 20, but the Army opted to proceed with using the counter-drone system without FAA approval, sources said, which prompted the FAA to halt flights.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who oversees the FAA, said the closure had been prompted by a drone incursion by a Mexican drug cartel. However, a drone sighting near an airport would typically lead to a brief pause on traffic, not an extended closure. The Pentagon says there are more than 1,000 such incidents each month along the U.S.-Mexico border.

(Reporting by David Shepardson, Editing by William Maclean)