El Paso airport flights to be grounded for 10 days: FAA

Texas - All flights to and from El Paso International Airport will be grounded for 10 days after the Federal Aviation Administration announced they will be closing the airspace.

El Paso airspace closed

What we know:

According to the FAA website, the temporary flight restrictions will run from Feb. 10 at 11:30 p.m. MST to Feb. 20 at 11:30 p.m. MST. The reason for the restrictions were reported as "special security reasons."

The Mexican airspace is excluded from this airspace closure.

Early Wednesday morning, the El Paso International Airport stated all commercial, cargo, and general aviation flights are grounded at this time until the restrictions have ended.

The Associated Press says the shutdown is likely to cause disruptions due to the size of the metropolitan area.

What we don't know:

The FAA did not provide further details on the "special Security reasons" causing the temporary flight restrictions.

What they're saying:

Texas Senator César Blanco from the 29th district stated:

Our office is aware of the FAA’s temporary suspension of flights in and out of El Paso for national security reasons. We are actively working with the appropriate agencies to better understand the situation. Actions like this are taken out of an abundance of caution to protect our community. I encourage everyone to remain calm and patient as we await further information. We will share updates as they become available.