Seven tips for carrying lithium batteries on planes

With airlines around the world prohibiting the use of power banks in flight, a global safety campaign on the safe carrying of lithium batteries has been launched.

The International Air Transport Association outlines seven rules for carrying mobile phones, laptops, power banks and other lithium-powered devices safely when you fly.

The airline industry body’s Travel Smart With Lithium Batteries campaign advises passengers:

+ Pack light, and only bring the devices and batteries you need.

+ Stay alert and tell the crew immediately if a device is hot, smoking or damaged.

+ Keep devices with you at all times in your hand baggage, not in checked baggage.

+ Protect loose batteries by keeping spare batteries and power banks in their original packaging, or cover the terminals with tape to prevent short-circuits.

+ Remove all lithium batteries and devices if hand baggage is taken at the gate to go in the aircraft baggage hold.

+ Check with the airline for approval if carrying larger batteries, over 100Wh.

+ Confirm airline policies on the carriage of lithium batteries.

“Lithium-powered devices are safe when handled properly, but they can pose a risk if damaged or packed incorrectly,” says Nick Careen, IATA’s senior vice president, operations, safety and security.

The US Federal Aviation Administration is one of few aviation regulators to publish lithium battery incidents. Between March 3, 2006, and August 5, 2025, there were 534 verified incidents involving smoke, fire or extreme heat involving US carriers and international carrier flights in US airspace.

Of these, 389 were on passenger aircraft.

Up to April, the FAA had reported 19 incidents this year, with a further six pending verification.

Earlier this year, airlines in the Asia-Pacific region were the first to introduce restrictions on the use of power banks in flight and keeping them in sight following a fire onboard an Air Busan aircraft at South Korea’s Gimhae International Airport, believed to have been caused by a power bank in an overhead bin.

An IATA spokesperson says passengers are travelling with more devices, but misconceptions persist. A recent IATA passenger survey found:

+ 83 per cent of travellers surveyed carried a phone.

+ 60 per cent had a laptop.

+ 44 per cent travelled with a power bank.

Some 93 per cent of travellers questioned considered themselves knowledgeable on the rules for carrying lithium-powered devices, but:

+ 50 per cent incorrectly believed it was all right to pack small lithium-powered devices in checked luggage.

+ 45 per cent incorrectly believed they could pack power banks in checked luggage.

+ 33 per cent incorrectly believed there were no power limits on power banks or spare batteries.

WHERE LITHIUM IS

Passengers are also unaware of how many everyday devices contain lithium batteries, with the list including mobile phones, laptops, tablets, power banks, e-readers, wireless headphones, smartwatches, fitness trackers, cameras, portable speakers, handheld gaming consoles, electronic styluses, electric toothbrushes, shavers, hair-straighteners, e-cigarettes, handheld fans, torches, hearing aids, glucose monitors and laser pointers.

ONBOARD SOLUTIONS

Airlines increasingly carry onboard thermal containment bags for overheating batteries and devices.

For example, AvSax says its lithium battery fire containment bags are used by more than 100 operators worldwide and are onboard about 17,000 aircraft.

The overheating or burning device is put into the bag which is filled with water. Polymer gel inside the bag expands to surround the device, instantly cooling it.

The polymer is also designed to absorb the force of an exploding lithium-ion battery.

All Nippon Airways has independently developed a fire-resistant storage bag in conjunction with Kikuchi Sheet Industries and Toppan Corporation. The bag combines Toppan’s FSfilm, which releases a fire-extinguishing aerosol in response to heat, and Kikuchi’s fire-resistant bag.