South Korean airline Air Busan has decided to ban power banks from luggage stored in the overhead compartments after a fire destroyed one of their airplanes last week. On 28 January, an Air Busan Airbus A321 scheduled to fly to Hong Kong caught fire while on the runway at Gimhae International Airport in southeastern Busan. All aboard were able to be safely evacuated but the plane itself burned out.
While investigation into the matter is still ongoing and no official cause has been determined just yet, the fire was first detected by a flight attendant in one of the overhead luggage bins of the plane. This has lead the airline to take action. As of Friday, power banks will be banned from the overhead luggage bins.
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
The measure will begin on trial routes and will then be expanded to all Air Busan flights. In order to make this possible, passenger carry-on bags will be inspected at boarding gates. Those who don’t contain power banks will be tagged, which will allow passengers to stow them in the overhead bins. Those who do contain power banks must be kept close by the passengers in order to intervene in case of overheating.
“What was proposed by Air Busan is a precautionary measure after the recent accident, but it is more restrictive than existing international practice,” said Warren Chim Wing-nin, deputy chairman of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers’ aircraft division, in a statement to myNews.
According to international guidelines, any devices containing Lithium batteries (such as laptops, power banks and electronic cigarettes) should not be kept in checked-in luggage, as there is a fire risk in case of a short circuit. Passengers should thus keep them in the cabin, where aviation personnel has fire extinguishers and thermal containment boxes to intervene when needed.
The reason for Air Busan’s swift reaction to the matter might have something to do with South Korea’s aim to rebuild its aviation safety system from scratch, following both the Air Busan fire and above all the Jeju Air crash killing 179 passengers and crew members on 29 December in the deadliest air disaster ever on South Korean soil. A new committee will be created in order to overlook the matter.
“In order to restore trust in our country’s aviation safety system, the government will make a determined effort to rebuild the aviation safety system from the ground up,” Deputy Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Baek Won-kuk said in a statement.
