EVA Air bans use of portable chargers as concerns grow over inflight fire risks

Taiwanese carrier EVA Air has announced it will be prohibiting the use of portable chargers on board all of its flights starting from Saturday, March 1, 2025. The move follows increasing industry unease over the unfettered use of such devices inflight and the potential fire risks caused by devices overheating – a process known as thermal runaway.

Current EVA Air regulations only prohibit the stowage of portable chargers and lithium batteries from checked-in hold luggage, and the airline requires passengers to correctly stow these devices in their carry-on baggage. However, reflecting current concerns that have been raised following the fire onboard an Air Busan Airbus A321 in Busan in January 2025 which caught fire on the ground in a suspected (but not confirmed) thermal runaway event, portable chargers and spare lithium batteries will be prohibited from use on all fights starting on the above date. the airline has said, “to improve onboard safety.”

“Passengers are advised to fully charge electronic devices before boarding and use the AC and USB charging outlets provided at their seat,” the carrier added.

Jinning Li / shutterstockAccording to the Taipei Times, fellow Taiwanese carrier China Airlines is advising passengers not to use portable chargers while in the air, following the lead set by several South Korean airlines earlier in February 2025. China Airlines said that passengers must carry portable charges with them and cannot pack them in checked baggage “for safety reasons.” Mandarin Airlines, China Airlines’ regional subsidiary, is enforcing the same regulations. Meanwhile, on Taiwan’s other major carrier, Starlux Airlines, passengers have been prohibited from using portable chargers on board since the airline’s launch in 2018.

Fears over such chargers, which contain lithium-Ion batteries were first brought to light after an accident involving a United Parcel Service (UPS) Boeing 747 in Dubai on September 3, 2010. The cargo-only flight operating from Dubai International Airport (DXB) to Cologne Airport (CGN) in Germany developed an uncontained inflight fire that started in one of the containers of cargo on the main deck. The fire was discovered to have started in one of 81,000 lithium-ion batteries contained in that particular container due to thermal runaway. The aircraft crashed killing both crew members.

Bradley Caslin / ShutterstockThe Air Busan fire occurred on January 28, 2024, just before 22:30 local time, Air Busan flight BX391, bound for Hong Kong, caught fire at Busan-Gimhae International Airport (PUS) immediately before takeoff. All 176 people on board were safely evacuated using escape slides, with three suffering minor injuries.

The aircraft’s upper fuselage was largely burnt out, although the wings and engines were mostly unaffected. While an investigation is currently ongoing by the South Korean authorities, it has been widely reported that a fire started in a bag stowed in one of the rearmost overhead bins, likely to have been caused by the thermal runaway of a lithium-ion battery.

In Europe, airlines currently apply their own guidelines to the use of portable chargers, for now at least. Ryanair, Europe’s largest carrier, now makes an onboard announcement to all passengers advising that the use of portable chargers is no longer allowed on any of its services.

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