Southwest Airlines said this week that it would soon limit the number of portable chargers and power banks passengers can have on flights as airlines contend with a recent rise in lithium battery fires on planes.
Starting on April 20, the airline will limit passengers to one lithium battery-powered portable charger per person, according to an internal message sent to employees on Tuesday by Dave Hunt, Southwest’s vice president of safety and security, that was provided by the airline to The New York Times.
Each device must also have a capacity of 100 watts or less to be deemed acceptable.
Southwest also said that it would no longer allow passengers to store portable chargers in a plane’s overhead bins. Instead, passengers must hold their portable chargers or put them in a carry-on bag under their seat.
The airline also said it would ban passengers from using in-seat power outlets to charge their portable chargers. They can still use regular chargers in the outlets.
Many power banks contain lithium batteries, which can spontaneously catch fire if they are damaged or short-circuit, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Lithium batteries are largely banned from checked baggage in the United States, unless the devices that rely on them are turned off.
In May, Southwest Airlines announced that it would tighten its rules regulating portable chargers when it said that passengers could no longer charge devices using portable batteries while placed in luggage in the overhead bins.
The airline’s most recent announcement came amid a rise in fires on planes caused by portable chargers.
In January 2025, a fire destroyed an Air Busan plane on the tarmac in Busan, South Korea, and investigators said that a power bank may have started the blaze.
The fire prompted several international airlines, including Thai Airways, Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines, to ban using and charging power banks during flights.
A lithium battery also spontaneously combusted in a passenger’s carry-on luggage during an Air China flight in October.
Last year, the F.A.A. reported 97 lithium battery episodes involving smoke, fire or extreme heat on passenger and cargo aircraft, up from 89 the previous year.
More than a third of those cases were caused by battery packs or batteries, according to the F.A.A.
There have been 14 lithium battery incidents on passenger and cargo planes so far in 2026, including nine caused by battery packs and batteries, according to the F.A.A.
Hannah Ziegler is a general assignment reporter for The Times, covering topics such as crime, business, weather, pop culture and online trends.
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