We live in strange times, but this is especially odd, even in an era where I feel like we’re desensitized to most things. El Paso Airport (ELP) is closed for the next 10 days, and we don’t know why (and don’t worry, I’ll save you the Vasu Raja jokes… IYKYK).
FAA halts flights at El Paso Airport for unknown reasons
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has grounded all flights to and from El Paso Airport for a period of 10 days, between 11:30PM on February 10 and 11:30PM on February 20, 2026. This applies to commercial, cargo, and general aviation traffic, and airline passengers are being told to contact their airlines.
The restrictions came in the form of a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM), and applies within 10 nautical miles of the airport, and up to an altitude of 18,000 feet. It was announced with little advance notice, so has caught all parties off guard, with the only explanation being offered is that this is due to “special security reasons.”
What could possibly explain this airport closure?
I don’t think we’ve ever seen a commercial airport close for this amount of time with virtually no advance notice, and no obvious reason. It’s not uncommon to see temporary flight restrictions in response to government traffic, or following some sort of a terrorist attack, or something. But to just see a commercial airport close for 10 days without any of that is sort of unheard of.
Interestingly, the 10 nautical miles around the airport isn’t the only airspace being closed. There’s more airspace in the region that’s being restricted as well.
To state the obvious, El Paso is located very close to the border between the United States and Mexico, as is all the airspace impacted by these new 10-day restrictions. One wonders if there’s some sort of military activity planned, or what? At the same time, I can’t really make sense of these airspace closures when you consider how small the zones are.
These are truly incredibly strange times we live in, and I don’t even know what to make of this airport and airspace closure. In response to El Paso Airport’s announcement, I see some local residents in the area asking on the airport’s social media posts whether they’re safe, and I can’t blame them for wondering. Like, can we rule out aliens?
Bottom line
El Paso Airport has just closed, and it will remain that way for the next 10 days. We don’t know why this is happening, other than that it’s due to “special security reasons.” I don’t think we’ve ever seen an airport close for this long without any sort of obvious reason, so one can’t help but wonder what’s going on here…
What do you make of this El Paso Airport closure?
