Starting 1 April 2025, Singapore Airlines and its budget carrier Scoot will no longer allow passengers to use or charge portable power banks during flights. This includes charging power banks via USB ports or using them to charge personal devices.
SIA explained in a statement, "The SIA Group complies with the International Air Transport Association’s Dangerous Goods Regulations regarding the carriage of power banks, which are classified as lithium batteries." As a result, power banks must be carried in cabin baggage, not checked luggage.
Passengers can bring power banks with a capacity of up to 100 watt-hours (Wh) without special approval, but those between 100Wh and 160Wh will need airline approval.
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This change follows similar actions by other airlines in Asia, including Thai Airways, AirAsia, and carriers in South Korea and Taiwan. These airlines have also banned charging power banks on board, in response to the fire risk posed by lithium-based batteries.
Concerns about power banks have grown after several in-flight incidents. In 2023, a Scoot flight saw two passengers injured when a power bank overheated and caught fire. There have also been other fires on flights caused by power banks, like the recent incident on a Batik Air flight.
The issue of overheating lithium batteries is becoming more common, with reports of three such incidents globally every fortnight in 2024, compared to one a week in 2018.