Lithium Incidents Double as Regulators Cap Power Banks at Two

U.S. regulators logged 97 lithium-battery incidents involving smoke, fire or extreme heat in 2025, more than double the 47 recorded in 2017 — and power banks are the fastest-growing category. The numbers frame an uncomfortable question for airlines: the cabin fire risk is climbing just as every passenger carries more batteries, and the cost of each event now averages roughly $96,000.

What happened on KLM 735?

On September 17, a portable charger caught fire aboard KLM flight 735 from Amsterdam to Curaçao. The crew extinguished the flames and the Boeing 777 returned safely to the Dutch capital. One person was injured, knock-on cancellations followed, hundreds of passengers needed overnight accommodation, and the widebody stayed out of service until September 20.

Dutch media then reported the device allegedly belonged to Camiel Eurlings, KLM's former chief executive. The airline declined to identify the passenger, and Eurlings did not respond to a request for comment. On November 4, the Dutch Safety Board opened an independent investigation. The tabloid angle matters less than the mechanism: a device small enough to fit in a pocket removed a long-haul aircraft from service for days and cost the carrier two flights.

How fast is the risk growing?

The trend lines all point the same way. The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) recorded a 98% rise in reports of passenger devices overheating between 2024 and 2025, and it estimates the average passenger now carries four lithium-powered devices. Paul Serafin, the FAA's deputy director, said the agency has recently seen roughly two incidents a week on passenger aircraft.

The financial exposure is measured, not speculative. UL Standards & Engagement (a safety science organization) puts the average incident cost at about $96,000, and about 12% of incidents in its dataset ended in a diversion or emergency landing. For a network carrier, each event is a scheduling problem as much as a safety one.

What do the new rules actually change?

Not as much as the headlines suggest. ICAO (the UN body setting global aviation standards) brought provisions into force at the end of March that cap passengers at two power banks and ban recharging them in flight. But implementation varies by jurisdiction, and airlines can impose stricter limits of their own.

That patchwork has a direct distribution consequence for sellers: what's allowed on one leg may not be allowed on the next, and agents advising connecting itineraries now need to brief clients on differing battery rules. Cabin crews, meanwhile, remain the last line of defense when prevention fails.

Is the industry doing enough?

Experts are split on urgency, not direction. Battery safety expert Paul Christensen said the airline industry needs to "wake up as a matter of extreme urgency." IATA's Jonathan Jasper offered a more measured read, cautioning that most reports involve overheating rather than full thermal runaway (the uncontrollable self-ignition of a lithium cell).

Both positions can be true: the absolute number of fires is still small relative to flights, but the trajectory is steep and the unit economics of each incident are getting worse as widebodies fly fuller. With the Dutch Safety Board's investigation pending and ICAO's limits now live but unevenly enforced, expect carriers to keep tightening their own rules — and to keep absorbing the diversions until prevention catches up with the devices passengers bring aboard.