The Federal Aviation Administration reopened the airspace around El Paso International Airport Wednesday morning, just hours after announcing a 10-day closure that would have grounded all flights.
The FAA said in a social media post that it has lifted the temporary closure of the airspace over El Paso, saying there was no threat to commercial aviation and that all flights will resume.
The shutdown announced just hours earlier, "for special security reasons," had been expected to create significant disruptions given the duration and the size of the metropolitan area.
El Paso, a border city with a population of nearly 700,000 people and larger when you include the surrounding metro area, is a hub of cross-border commerce alongside the neighboring city of Ciudad Juarez in Mexico. The brief closure does not include Mexican airspace.
The airport said in an Instagram post after the closure was announced that all flights to and from the airport would be grounded from late Tuesday through late on Feb. 20, including commercial, cargo and general aviation flights. It suggested travelers contact their airlines to get up-to-date flight information.
