South Korea has cracked down on passengers taking lithium batteries on board planes amid growing safety concerns. The move follows an increase in recorded overheating incidents and an aircraft fire at Gimhae International Airport in Busan in 2024.
Cellphones, tablets, e-cigarettes and powerbanks all rely on lithium-ion or Li-ion batteries. The technology won a Nobel Prize in 2019 and revolutionised consumer electronics by allowing devices to operate with high specific energy and be recharged frequently while maintaining a respectable battery life.
Ongoing ! An Air Busan Airbus A321 aircraft caught fire at Gimhae International Airport (PUS).
— FL360aero (@fl360aero) January 28, 2025
At around 10:30pm local time on the 28th, a fire broke out in the tail section of an Air Busan plane bound for Hong Kong at Gimhae Airport.
It was reported that all 170 passengers… pic.twitter.com/pa1CwaUEj6
Lithium battery air incidents
But, in the early 2010s, two fatal cargo plane crashes occurred after battery fires, one in Dubai on a UPS plane, and one on an Asian Airlines flight in South Korea. And incidents of the batteries overheating recorded by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have increased. Data shows they’ve risen from fewer than one per week in 2018 to three incidents per fortnight in 2024. For Air Busan, after a January 2025 fire when one of its Airbus A321-200 due to depart for Hong Kong was gutted by flames as it waited for a take-off slot, enough is enough. It banned lithium batteries pending an investigation.
On the night of January 28, 2025, an Air Busan Airbus A321, registered as HL7763, caught fire at Gimhae International Airport in Busan, South Korea.
— Aviation for Aviators (@Aviaforaviators) January 28, 2025
Read more details: https://t.co/CSLxXm9ndu pic.twitter.com/2QVijPbFWK
All 176 people on board were safely evacuated from the Air Busan aircraft. However, the fire has fed into rising public disquiet in South Korea about the potential dangers of lithium batteries on board planes. In response, the republic’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport (MOLIT) has introduced the new rules, applicable from 1 March 2025.
No charging on board and five-battery limit
Although passengers are still permitted to take lithium-battery-powered devices on board, they are now required to keep the batteries in transparent bags on their person instead of storing them in overhead lockers. This means that any overheating issues should be immediately detectable rather than remaining out-of-sight in a locker, something that South Korean flyers quoted by The Independent expressed relief about, noting “we can find out immediately when something happens.”
If an issue does become apparent, cabin crew know how to cool batteries, extinguish flames if necessary, place the device in a fire-retardant container, and, according to the International Air Transport Association, evacuate the craft as needed.
Further aspects of the new South Korean rules mean that no charging is allowed to take place on aircraft and there are restrictions on how many batteries can be carried per passenger. The limit is five small power banks or e-cigarettes with a capacity of 100 watt-hours (Wh) or less. Exceptions can only be made with explicit airline permission, for medical devices.
It is not the first time South Korea has introduced reactive aviation safety rules. It announced the rollout of bird detection systems at airports around the country in early 2025, after a Jeju Air flight from Bangkok coming into Muan International was found to have suffered a bird strike, causing a crash that killed 179 people.
