Attention: Airline bans use of power banks, affecting many flights from Budapest Airport

Passengers flying with the Lufthansa Group from 15 January will face stricter rules regarding portable power banks, as the airline group has officially banned their use during flights for safety reasons.

Pay attention if you plan on flying from Budapest Airport with Lufthansa

The new regulation affects not only Lufthansa, but also Swiss International Air Lines and several other carriers within the group, including Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings. Lufthansa currently offers 43 weekly departures from Budapest Airport, to Frankfurt and Munich.

Under the updated policy, passengers are no longer allowed to use power banks to charge phones, tablets or other electronic devices while on board. Charging the power banks themselves during the flight is also strictly prohibited now. The decision follows a growing number of incidents linked to lithium-ion batteries overheating or catching fire during air travel, writes Telex.

According to the airline group, the move is intended to reduce the risk posed by portable batteries, which can become particularly dangerous under high pressure or if damaged.

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Are portable power banks that dangerous?

Recent incidents have highlighted the issue: last weekend, a power bank overheated and ignited in an overhead locker on an Asiana Airlines flight between Seoul and Taipei, while on the same day a similar device began smoking on a T’way Airlines flight in South Korea. In November, a power bank even caught fire in a passenger’s pocket at Melbourne Airport.