Southwest Airlines will prohibit passengers from using portable batteries to charge devices while they are inside bags because of the fire risk, the airline said Wednesday.
Southwest is the first of the four biggest U.S. airlines to tell passengers that they are not permitted to use portable lithium batteries while they are in a bag. Air carriers in Asia have been tightening restrictions on the batteries in recent months.
The new rule requires passengers to keep the batteries visible while in use, and will take effect on Southwest flights next Wednesday. The rule will help flight attendants act more quickly if a battery overheats or catches fire, Southwest said in a statement.
The airline said that it was responding to “multiple incident reports” involving batteries on flights across carriers. In March, crew members on a Southwest flight reported a battery fire after landing at Reno-Tahoe International Airport, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, which was investigating the episode.
The F.A.A. has reported 22 incidents of lithium batteries catching fire, emitting smoke or overheating on aircraft this year.
Asian airlines have been tightening restrictions this year, after a plane operated by the South Korean carrier Air Busan caught fire on the tarmac in Busan, South Korea, in January. All passengers and crew aboard the aircraft were evacuated with only minor injuries. The cause of the fire was still under investigation, though the country’s transportation ministry has suggested that a portable battery was to blame.
South Korea now prohibits passengers from keeping portable chargers and electronic cigarettes in overhead bins. Some Chinese airlines and Hong Kong’s aviation authority went a step further in April, barring passengers from using power banks at all during flights. Thai Airways and Malaysia Airlines, two other major Asian carriers, have announced similar bans.
The F.A.A. allows passengers to carry lithium batteries only in carry-on baggage. Since 2016, they have been banned in checked baggage and cargo by the International Civil Aviation Organization, the United Nations agency that coordinates international aviation standards. The F.A.A. also requires passengers to remove power banks from their bags for airport security checks and to keep the devices with them while on the aircraft.
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