Air travel restrictions over a 2,000-square-mile area of southern New Mexico were lifted Thursday, two days after the Federal Aviation Administration imposed them on that area and El Paso in an unprecedented action.
The restrictions, which barred all flights below 18,000 feet, were scheduled to last 10 days. The El Paso restrictions were lifted Wednesday morning, seven hours after they went into effect, following condemnation from city leaders.
But FAA officials said the New Mexico restrictions, in an area west of Santa Teresa bounded by the Mexico border to the south and the Organ Mountains-Desert Peak National Monument to the north, remained in effect…