The Transportation Ministry on Wednesday reimposed passenger limits on outgoing flights from Israel after three private planes were damaged by falling debris following the interception of an Iranian ballistic missile. Local and US airlines also announced flight cancellations.

The Transportation Ministry, spooked by the damage at the airport, backtracked from a decision to raise the number of passengers permitted on each limited outbound flight still departing Israel, which had been announced two days prior.

The news that Israel’s skies would remain largely empty for the foreseeable future came after the Israel Airport Authorities announced that “three private aircraft were damaged this morning by interception debris” as a result of Iranian ballistic missile fire.

Images seen by The Times of Israel showed that one of the planes caught fire from the fragments, while others sustained minor damage.

Hours later, El Al announced that it had cancelled its regular scheduled flights planned through March 27, citing current restrictions on operations at Ben Gurion Airport and the Home Front Command guidelines.

The cancellations apply only to regularly scheduled flights and do not include repatriation flights that are currently operating.

הותר לפרסום: 3 מטוסים פרטיים נפגעו בנתב"ג בימים האחרוניםצילום: שימוש לפי סעיף 27 א' pic.twitter.com/QACuwuNAFB — מעריב | Maariv (@MaarivOnline) March 18, 2026

הותר לפרסום: 3 מטוסים פרטיים נפגעו בנתב"ג בימים האחרוניםצילום: שימוש לפי סעיף 27 א' pic.twitter.com/QACuwuNAFB

— מעריב | Maariv (@MaarivOnline) March 18, 2026

Scheduled flights to the following destinations were cancelled: Tbilisi, Budapest, Zurich, Barcelona, Belgrade, Berlin, Boston, Batumi, Fort Lauderdale, Frankfurt, Heraklion, Krakow, Larnaca, London Luton, Lyon, Marseille, Bucharest, Paphos, Prague, Chisinau, Thessaloniki, Sofia, Salzburg, Podgorica, Tirana, Tivat, Venice and........

© The Times of Israel