Editorial | Power banks a peril when used in the air
After a spate of fires believed to be linked to the devices, they may not longer be stowed in overhead bins or used on commercial flights
One flight accident does not necessarily pose a wider safety threat. But a recent spate of in-flight fires involving power banks has prompted aviation authorities across Asia to take action, and rightly so.
Under new rules effective from April 7, passengers will be barred from recharging power banks, and from using them to charge electronic devices, during flights. Stowing power banks in the overhead cabin bins also will be prohibited.
Flight regulators and airlines in the region have been on the alert since a Hong Kong-bound Air Busan plane caught fire before taking off from Gimhae International Airport in January.
The flames were believed to have been ignited by a passenger’s portable power bank inside an overhead bin.
The incident prompted a few airlines to ban the use of power banks on board, with some requiring passengers to carry them in plastic zig bags and place them in the seat pocket in front of them, or underneath their seat.
The local Civil Aviation Department did not take action until this month, after an inbound Hong Kong Airlines flight from Hangzhou in Zhejiang province was forced to divert to Fuzhou due to a power bank stowed in an overhead compartment that apparently caught fire.