The US Federal Aviation Administration recorded 644 lithium battery fires onboard flights in the past 20 years, with the global figure stretching into the thousands
EasyJet pilot and head of flight operations at the Civil Aviation Authority, Glenn Bradley(Image: Supplied)
A pilot has urged passengers not to pack an electrical item in their luggage, to avoid potentially disastrous consequences.
Eleven days ago, passengers aboard a British Airways Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner flying from London Heathrow Airport to Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas noticed an acrid smell.
A blaze had broken out in the cabin, triggered – it would later become clear – by a lithium battery. The fire scorched the inside of the jet before crew could extinguish it. Clark County Fire Department responders rushed to meet the singed plane on the tarmac.
The fire was one of 644 such incidents on planes recorded by the US Federal Aviation Administration in the past 20 years, with the global figure stretching into the thousands.
Other incidents are much scarier.
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On January 28 last year, 176 passengers were evacuated from Air Busan Flight 391 when a battery blaze completely destroyed the plane as it taxied for take-off at Gimhae International Airport. Three were injured.
Lithium batteries are used six times more now than in 2020, raising the risk of fire with them. They can ignite due to a process called thermal runaway, where a damaged or short-circuited cell rapidly generates heat. This creates a chain reaction that releases extreme heat, and can be triggered by being crushed and overcharged.
Many of us know of the dangers of lithium batteries on flights and that items containing them such as phones, power banks and vapes must only be stored in hand luggage. However, it’s easy to let less obvious gadgets slip into hold luggage, according to easyJet pilot and head of flight operations at the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), Glenn Bradley.
“The batteries are in everything, including portable fans. Lithium batteries in the hold are the most dangerous thing,” Glenn explained.
While flight attendants are trained to put out cabin fires, accessing luggage in the hold is impossible during a flight, which is why the prospect of a lithium battery fire is taken extremely seriously.
“We all carry about four of these batteries when we fly, so on a plane there could be a thousand. The fact is, they don’t explode on a daily basis, but if they do, we want to be able to manage them,” he added.
If a passenger realises they’ve left a battery-containing item in their hold luggage, they should immediately tell crew.
When that happened on a UK-bound easyJet flight in May, it was diverted to Rome. The captain judged the power bank charging in a passenger’s luggage to be too dangerous to ignore.
Glenn spoke with the Mirror as part of a CAA safety campaign. Passengers are urged to “pack right for a safe flight” by taking their batteries in the cabin with them.
Passengers should:
- Take items like mobile phones, vapes and power banks on board with you.
- Never charge a power bank on a flight.
- Turn off laptops completely if they’re going to be put in check-in bags.
Getting it wrong could lead to your bags being removed from the flight, causing significant delays or, even worse, result in a fire that may be impossible to contain.
Giancarlo Buono, director of aviation safety at the CAA, said: “Flying is by far the safest way to travel and we want to keep it that way. Pack right for a safe flight, and that means don’t put your batteries in your checked bag. Take them into the cabin with you. This simple tip will make your flight safer for you, and the other passengers you’re flying with.”
CAA figures show reports of overheating or malfunctioning passenger devices nearly doubled between 2024 and 2025, following a 98% year-on-year increase. Cases of lithium battery-powered devices being incorrectly packed in checked baggage also rose by 91% in 2025.