Passengers will be prohibited from using portable batteries on all commercial flights to and from Japan due to an increasing number of incidents in which lithium-ion mobile batteries emit smoke or catch fire. (Hana Kusumoto/Stars and Stripes)
TOKYO — Japan will ban the use of portable lithium-ion batteries for charging electronic devices aboard commercial flights starting April 24, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.
Passengers will be prohibited from using portable batteries on all commercial flights to and from Japan due to an increasing number of incidents in which lithium-ion mobile batteries emit smoke or catch fire, the ministry said in a news release Tuesday.
The new regulations will limit passengers to two mobile charging batteries carried aboard their flights, according to the release. Passengers may not charge those batteries via power outlets on the planes.
Travelers are prohibited from carrying mobile chargers in their checked baggage and should not store them in overhead bins, the ministry said.
Incidents involving “thermal runaway” by lithium-ion batteries are on the rise as the devices become more compact and proliferate, according to UL Standards and Engagement, formerly Underwriters Laboratories.
A portable power bank in an overhead luggage bin likely caused a fire that destroyed an Air Busan plane in Busan, South Korea, before it taxied for takeoff in January, according to a BBC report in March.
All 176 passengers and crew were evacuated, although several were injured, according to news reports.
“In 2024, an average of two flights per week experienced a thermal runaway incident,” the UL website states. “While there was a slight dip in the total number of reported passenger flight incidents compared to 2023, the marginal drop still makes the 2024 incident total the second highest since 2019 by 11 incidents.”
UL based its statistics on the Thermal Runaway Incident Program, which gathers information from 38 passenger and cargo airlines, according to UL’s website.
Vapes, or electronic cigarettes, are the leading cause of thermal runaway incidents in aviation, although only 10% of aviation passengers carry them, according to UL.
The new regulations in Japan are due to recent changes to international standards specified by the International Civil Aviation Organization, according to the ministry’s release.
“Recently, with the global increase in lithium-ion battery-related fires on airplanes, the need for risk management has grown, and the ICAO has been considering countermeasures,” the release said.
An emergency revision of ICAO international standards “aimed at reducing the risks associated with mobile batteries” was approved March 27 “and immediately put into effect,” the ministry said.
Japan revised its rules to comply with the ICAO changes, according to the ministry.
