Military 'could not assure civilian flight safety' in El Paso airspace

Early Wednesday morning, February 11, the news broke that the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had closed airspace in El Paso, Texas for ten days. And an FAA notice described the airspace in that area as "defense airspace," warning that pilots who violated the restriction could be intercepted, detained and questioned by law enforcement.

Later that morning, CNN's Pete Muntean reported a "breaking" development on X, formerly Twitter.

Muntean, at 8:14 AM eastern time, tweeted, "A source briefed by FAA tells me the El Paso flight ban was driven by military operations from Biggs Army Air Field at Fort Bliss. The FAA acted after the Defense Department could not assure civilian flight safety."

Hours earlier, El Paso Matters CEO Bob Moore described the aviation environment in El Paso.

Moore explained, "It's essentially a no-fly zone now that includes military aircraft medical evacuation helicopters, law enforcement, nothing. Nothing can fly. We've never seen anything like this here at least since. Since 9/11, when everything was grounded."

According to CNN, later Wednesday morning, the FAA lifted the airspace closure.