Vacationers will quickly face restrictions on what number of portable chargers they’ll keep it up a flight as airways proceed to attempt to cut back the danger of one other lithium battery fire aboard their jets.
Southwest Airlines introduced Tuesday that beginning April 20, passengers will solely have the ability to carry one charger on their planes, they usually received’t be allowed to place it within the overhead bin or of their checked baggage. The airline already requires passengers to maintain their chargers within the open whereas they’re utilizing them, so flight attendants can act rapidly in the event that they begin to overheat.
The brand new Southwest rule goes even additional than the restrict of two chargers per passenger that the Worldwide Civil Aviation Group really helpful final month. However the airline says it isn’t going to aggressively implement the coverage by looking luggage and confiscating chargers. As a substitute, Southwest’s vp of security and safety, Dave Hunt, mentioned the airline will stress this to vacationers once they ebook their flights and arrive on the airport whereas explaining the potential risks.
That alone may be an enormous assist as a result of most individuals don’t appear to pay attention to the dangers, mentioned Jeff Marootian, who’s CEO of UL Requirements & Engagement, which establishes the rules for the makers of those chargers and different digital gadgets.
“An enormous a part of the priority right here is seeing that variety of incidents proceed to extend, correlating, in fact, to the variety of gadgets that persons are bringing on planes,” he mentioned.
The Federal Aviation Administration mentioned extra lithium battery incidents are reported yearly and hit 97 in 2025 as everybody carries extra re-chargable gadgets like telephones, iPads, laptops and these transportable chargers. Marootian mentioned that his group hears about two incidents each week, and reported a 42% improve within the variety of incidents involving transportable chargers in 2025.
One of many worst occurred in January 2025 when a devastating hearth aboard an Air Busan aircraft ready to take off from an airport in South Korea pressured the evacuation of all 176 individuals aboard earlier than the fireplace burned by means of the aircraft’s roof.
Flight attendants have fire-resistant luggage and insulated gloves to place overheating gadgets into to include any potential blaze. Southwest’s Hunt mentioned the airline’s new rule will “strengthen our means to include and mitigate lithium battery incidents, together with lowering the danger of battery fires.”
To assist make the rule workable for passengers, Southwest plans to equip all of its planes with in-seat energy by the center of subsequent 12 months.
Aviation security knowledgeable Steve Arroyo, who flew for United Airways for 37 years, mentioned he thinks Southwest’s new coverage is a optimistic step to cut back the danger. Though the variety of fires is small in comparison with the roughly 100,000 flights daily across the globe, the potential penalties of a battery hearth could be disastrous.
“It might flip into one thing very severe in a short time,” Arroyo mentioned.
—by Josh Funk, AP Transportation Author
