An airline has become the first to ban portable chargers after a huge plane fire.
Korean airline Air Busan has announced that the gadget would be banned from hand luggage. Many airlines ban them from checked bags but not carry-ons.
The new rule was introduced after a fire on January 28 ripped through a plane with 176 people on board, who all had to be evacuated.
The “preemptive measure” means passengers will have to keep portable chargers on their person or in under-seat bags, rather than in overhead compartments.
The fire on January 28, believed to have been started by a portable charger, was noticed by a flight attendant and ended up destroying the plane beyond repair.
Lo Kok-keung, a retired engineering professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, told the South China Morning Post about the dangers of power banks on planes.
He said: “If it creates a short circuit it can create a high temperature and burn the internal materials and create a fire which can burn clothing in the baggage.”
Some airline rules ban power banks in checked luggage. Ryanair says that customers can carry a maximum of two spare lithium-ion batteries in carry-on baggage which must be individually protected to prevent short circuits.
Passengers are also warned not to try and retrieve their phones if they lose them down the side of the seat mid-flight, due to the risk of fire. This happened on a 2017 United Airlines flight and a 2018 Delta Airlines flight.
Former pilot Patrick Smith said: “If you’re in an electrically controlled lie-flat seat, of the type common in first or business class, there are a number of nooks and crannies into which your phone can slip — beyond your reach and down into the mechanisms that control the seat’s various positions.
Other things banned from flights include breast milk, chair-extending hammocks or boxes, medical equipment and medicine, toy weapons, and souvenirs such as snow globes.