Airlines routinely caution passengers about dropping or losing their battery-powered devices in flight, advising them to ask for assistance rather than trying to find the electronic items themselves.
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In January, an Air Busan plane in Busan, South Korea, caught fire while preparing for take off, resulting in 27 injuries. The fire started in the overhead luggage compartment of the plane because of a power bank.
South Korea imposed nationwide restrictions on power banks in March.
The Federal Aviation Administration has documented 660 verified incidences of lithium battery incidents involving power banks, e-cigarettes or vapes, phones and laptops.
Airlines are trying to head off the risk of a device becoming damaged underfoot or under seats, which could induce its battery to overheat or catch fire.
Although they can’t be charged on-board, Emirates permits customers to carry on one power bank, under 100 watt-hours, and the capacity rating of the battery has to be visible.
Emirates’ guidelines address the risk of power banks overheating or igniting by restricting them from being placed in the overhead stowage onboard the aircraft. Instead, they have to be placed “in the seat pocket or in a bag under the seat in front of you”, making them handy.
Qantas is closely monitoring the situation but isn’t making any policy changes at this time, the company said. Still, the guidance for passengers is to keep power banks within easy reach during flights.
And for those travelling with luggage, the International Air Transport Association deems smart luggage with integrated lithium batteries a “personal electronic device”. The Civil Aviation Safety Authority says that if a battery can’t be removed from the bag, the bag cannot be checked in.
A combination of factors is driving the policy change on power banks, said Sonya Brown, a senior lecturer in aerospace design at UNSW.
Air disasters and scares are raising awareness of the risk from rechargeable power banks. And incidents are more frequent because there are many more electronic devices in use, Brown said. CASA estimates that each passenger now carries an average of four battery-powered devices.
“That is causing more potential for things to go wrong when these devices are faulty, damaged, overcharged or overheated.” Brown said, adding it would be “tricky” for airlines to impose an outright ban on bringing power banks aboard.
A potential first step, Brown said, is to ban power banks from being used on plane, like Emirates.
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Airlines have long considered lithium-ion batteries dangerous goods, but from a “cargo perspective”, which includes freight forwarders and manufacturers, said RMIT Aviation professor Chrystal Zhang.
“More passengers taking mobile devices that carry these batteries to the cabin requires the cabin crew to deal with the emergency issues,” she said.
It’s not surprising airlines are being “proactive”, she said.
“I think they should take proactive and preventative measures to ensure that the high level of cabin safety is maintained.”
