A power bank exploded on September 2 on board Aeroméxico flight AM371, traveling from Oaxaca airport to Mexico City, causing a fire in the cabin. No passengers were injured and the plane completed its route regularly.
According to what was reconstructed by local sources, the device was on a momentarily empty seat when it caught fire. The crew reacted immediately, activating the emergency protocols required for lithium battery fires and putting out the flames within minutes, before passengers or the aircraft structure were involved. The intervention of medical personnel on the ground was not necessary.
Once disembarkation at Mexico City international airport was completed, the damaged power bank was handed over to the airport authorities for appropriate checks.
The risks of lithium batteries in flight
The episode puts the spotlight back on the dangers associated with lithium ion batteries, widespread in smartphones, laptops and portable accumulators. If there is an internal short circuit, overheating, or physical damage to the cells, these devices can go into “thermal runaway,” an uncontrollable chemical process that leads to rapid combustion and explosion.
For this reason, Iata (the International Air Transport Association) and almost all of the world’s airlines require power banks to be transported exclusively in hand luggage, never in the hold. If a fire starts in the cabin, the crew can intervene promptly with fire extinguishers; if the same explosion occurred in the baggage hold, the consequences for flight safety could be much more serious.