El Paso airspace closed for 10 days, Federal Aviation Administration says

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has closed the airspace surrounding the Texas border town of El Paso for 10 days.

Local authorities including the El Paso International Airport and City of El Paso government confirmed flights would not take off or land from Tuesday at 11:30pm (Wednesday 0630GMT) to February 20 at 11:30pm, (February 21 at 0630GMT).

City Council member Chris Canales, who represents an area on the southwestern side of El Paso, told the BBC local authorities did not receive any advance notice or reason for the closure.

The FAA said in a statement that the restrictions were for "special security reasons".

Long-term airspace closures are rare, as the FAA website said since 2018 it has cut airspace closures from an average of more than four hours per launch to just more than two hours.