A party balloon mistaken for a cartel drone shut down El Paso for hours. Here’s what it cost.
On February 10, 2026, the FAA shut down all flights over El Paso for what was supposed to be 10 days because the U.S. military had shot down what it thought was a drone. It turned out to be a party balloon. The closure was lifted within hours, but not before 15 flights were canceled, others delayed by hours, medevacs rerouted to Las Cruces, and Fort Bliss grounded.
So, how much did it cost?
Here’s my method for answering that question. I used only public, citable data. I reconstructed the timeline, built a flight dataset, classified cancellations and delays, converted disruption into passenger-hours and labor-hours, and monetized it with USDOT value-of-time guidance. I then applied sanity checks and documented all assumptions. Below is the analysis.
1. Timeline
Event Local (MST) UTC Source TFR effective (closure start) 11:30 PM Feb 10 06:30 Feb 11 FAA TFR notice, El Paso Times TFR lifted (closure end) 6:54 AM Feb 11 13:54 Feb 11 FAA X post (6:54 MT) Effective duration ~7.4 hours — —
What changed: The FAA initially announced a 10-day restriction. After coordination between federal agencies—and clarification that the threat had been addressed—the FAA reversed the restriction within hours. No partial reopening was reported; the closure was lifted in full.
2. Flight Universe
Category Count Source Confidence Canceled (true) 8 Business Insider / Flightradar24 High Delayed 7 El Paso Times, inferred Medium Diverted 1 Business Insider (Sierra West cargo to Las Cruces) High Disrupted passengers (est.) ~1600 Schedule + load factor 80% Low
Southwest, American, and Delta canceled 15 flights in and out of El Paso before the FAA lifted the restriction (Business Insider ). Departing aircraft experienced average delays of over three hours. Specific examples from El Paso Times: 6 AM to Phoenix delayed to 5:55 PM; 5:30 AM to Dallas Love delayed to 9 AM; 6:04 AM to DFW delayed to noon.
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