Safety concerns have led South Korean airlines to ban charging units from its planes and tighten rules for carrying consumer devices containing lithium-ion batteries.
From 1 March, passengers on South Korean airlines are not allowed to keep power banks and e-cigarettes stored in overhead bins. Power banks will have to be kept in protective pouches or transparent plastic bags, or the connectors covered with insulating tape, reported news outlet The Korean Times.
Charging devices and batteries over 160Wh are now banned from being taken on board flights.
Passengers are still allowed to carry up to five, 100-watt-hour batteries, which must also be stored in clear plastic bags.
The ban comes after concerns that faulty lithium-ion and lithium-metal batteries, such as those found in electronic consumer products, could go into thermal runaway and cause on-board fires.
In January, South Koran news outlet Yonhap News Agency reported a portable battery may have caused a fire on a plane used by budget airline Air Busan. The fire happened at South Korea’s Gimhae International Airport. All 176 passengers were forced to make an emergency exit from the plane.
Batteries for electronic devices caused 13 fires on Korean airline flights between 2020 and 2024, reported news outlet The Korean Herald, citing data from the South Korean government.
The US Federal Aviation Association (FAA) has reported a number of incidents on planes caused by lithium-ion batteries in the past decade. Last year, the FAA reported 54 ‘lithium battery related events involving smoke, fire, or extreme heat’. Of the organisation’s 518 verified incidents since 2006, 210 have been caused by a battery pack/battery.
Picture: Saucy, CC BY 4.0
