Elevating International Consciousness of Lithium-Ion Battery Safety in Air Travel

If you’ve been on social media this previous week, you might have seen dramatic footage or photos of a lithium-ion battery fireplace aboard an Air China flight. The video exhibits smoke and flames billowing out of an overhead compartment as apprehensive passengers alert the flight crew. Thankfully, nobody was injured, and the plane made an emergency touchdown after cabin crew swiftly extinguished the fireplace.

Unfortunately, this isn’t an remoted incident. In January of this yr, one other suspected lithium-ion battery fireplace destroyed an Air Busan plane because it awaited takeoff in South Korea.

According to international knowledge from UL Standards & Engagement’s Thermal Runaway Incident Program (TRIP), such occasions happen on a median of two flights per week. Most (roughly 70%) are contained early, when batteries present warning indicators comparable to overheating and smoke. In 2024, solely 18% resulted in fireplace or explosion.

While the fast trigger of those incidents lies within the lithium-ion energy sources behind fashionable rechargeable gadgets — typically after sustaining harm — the deeper, extra systemic subject is behavioral: the information and consciousness gaps amongst passengers carrying these things on planes.

Why Studying International Passengers Matters

Air journey connects the world, however security schooling and compliance efforts typically cease on the border. Our latest research, Lithium-Ion Battery Safety in Air Travel: An Asia-Pacific Focus, underscores why that should change, and the way worldwide knowledge can higher information the worldwide aviation group in tackling lithium-ion battery dangers. 

This method issues for a number of key causes: 

• Air journey is inherently cross-border. Passengers continuously start a journey in a single regulatory atmosphere and finish in one other — generally switching airline carriers in between. Inconsistent security messaging throughout jurisdictions creates confusion and threat.
• Regional gadget utilization varies. In Asia-Pacific, passengers extra continuously journey with energy banks and different lithium-ion battery-powered PEDs than in another elements of the world. These developments demand regionally tailor-made interventions.
• Effective security options should replicate worldwide enter. The approach folks interpret warnings, adjust to restrictions, or perceive security dangers is deeply cultural. Passengers’ behaviors may range attributable to completely different shopper product regulatory regimes of their house international locations. Without worldwide knowledge, security campaigns threat lacking the mark.

What the Research Uncovered

The research revealed three main challenges amongst Asia-Pacific air vacationers: 

• Low consciousness of battery dangers: Nearly 2 in 5 passengers are unaware that lithium-ion batteries can pose a hearth threat in-flight, regardless of high-profile incidents over the previous yr.
• Confusion about airline guidelines: Less than half of respondents know the place or learn how to test battery-related journey restrictions earlier than flying.
• Misconceptions about security practices: A good portion of passengers incorrectly imagine it’s secure to position lithium-ion gadgets in checked baggage — an motion banned by most worldwide aviation authorities.

These insights mirror patterns we’ve seen amongst U.S. passengers and counsel that confusion and complacency are widespread worldwide. Yet, the Asia-Pacific survey additionally highlighted distinct alternatives for airways and aviation authorities within the area: robust passenger belief in aviation authorities, curiosity in clearer steering, and openness to new security improvements.

Safety within the skies requires cooperation on the bottom. By higher understanding international passengers and advocating for internationally aligned requirements, ULSE helps construct stronger coordination, clearer communication amongst stakeholders, and larger use of internationally aligned security requirements to forestall battery-related incidents on plane.