AN ENTIRE country is placing a blanket ban on the use of power banks on flights.
Japan‘s transport ministry has told airlines that the use of the popular travel item onboard flights will be banned from April.
It comes as a number of incidents have occurred where mobile batteries and power banks have caught fire on flights.
Under the new ban, passengers will not be allowed to use power banks to charge their phone onboard a flight from Japan.
They will also not be able to charge power banks using the onboard power outlets.
However, they will still be able to take power banks on in hand luggage.
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Back in July, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism banned passengers from storing any power banks in the overhead lockers on domestic and international flights.
And batteries of this kind are already not allowed in checked baggage.
Despite the new rules, passengers will still be able to carry up to two power banks with them onto a flight – it is just that they cannot be used at all throughout the flight and must be out of the overhead locker.
It comes as a number of other airlines have banned power banks over the past couple of years due to a number of incidents.
The handy and popular travel item is thought to catch fire when there is damage, a manufacturing defect or overcharging has caused it to overheat.
When a power bank does overheat, it can be made worse on a plane due to the high-altitude and low-pressure conditions.
Last January, a flight operated by Air Busan, experienced a fire on board which they believe was as a result of a defective power bank.
Even though passengers weren’t harmed, the plane was badly damaged.
Following the incident, Air Busan was the first airline to ban the use of power banks onboard.
And since, a number of other airlines have followed in its footsteps.
For example, both Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines have banned the use of power banks on board.
And back in November, Qantas and Virgin Australia announced that they would ban onboard use of power banks after one caught fire in an overhead locker onboard a Virgin Australia flight.
The changes for Virgin Australia flights came into force on December 1.
Qantas, QantasLink and Jetstar then followed on December 15.
In January, Lufthansa then became the latest airline to introduce new rules on power banks.
It came into force on January 15 and means that passengers on Lufthansa flights are no longer allowed to use their power banks onboard either.
UK airlines such as British Airways and Ryanair are yet to introduce any similar rules.
What the rules mean for your holiday
The Sun’s Head of Travel Lisa Minot explains:
AS staying connected becomes ever-more important, a ban on the handy gadget that can keep our devices topped up could be seen as a pain.
But the catastrophic consequences of a fire on a plane are an obvious reason to make rules stricter.
After countless incidents – and with so many counterfeit and faulty goods out there – it makes sense they are cracking down.
But airlines do need to understand the need for us to be able to top up our devices in the air. With plans afoot to get rid of physical boarding passes in the coming years, making sure we are able to use our devices will become ever more essential.
Adapting plane interiors to include USB ports will alleviate the need to top up on the go.
And more needs to be done to highlight the new rules – and the dangers these devices can pose.
In other aviation news, a major airline has axed more than 130 flights from the UK.
Plus, a UK airport is launching its biggest ever flight schedule with 19 new routes in a major £60million expansion.