A United Nations panel on Monday approved a temporary ban on shipments of rechargeable lithium batteries aboard passenger planes because they can burst into flames.
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The Washington Times reports that he batteries, which are found in everything from our laptops to our phones, have been banned because authorities are anxious about an increased risk of fire – with aircraft fire suppression systems deemed not good enough to handle, say, a cargo container stacked full of ’em if it were to catch fire mid-flight.
The ICAO added that no additional restrictions will be placed on other batteries or other means of transporting lithium-ion batteries. Non-rechargeable lithium metal batteries are already banned from cargo holds for the same reasons. “However, we are concerned about the significant disruption in the logistics supply chain, especially for lithium ion batteries in lifesaving medical devices that often need to be shipped on passenger aircraft to remote locations not served by cargo aircraft”.
So don’t be surprised if next year’s Mobile World Congress debuts the Galaxy S8, which is powered by a large windmill instead.
Some cargo-shipping airlines also oppose the ban, since many have contracts with passenger airlines to transport cargo to destinations they do not cover. The ban goes into effect on April 1.
The Air Line Pilots Association said lawmakers should have enacted a ban of their own to show the U.S.is serious about preventing fires on-board planes that have been associated with the lithium batteries in recent years.
According to a statement from the council president of the International Civil Aviation Organization, Olumuyiwa Bernard Aliu, the new packaging standard is expected by 2018. “Therefore, continuing to allow the carriage of lithium batteries within today’s transport category aircraft cargo compartments is an unacceptable risk to the air transport industry”.
“When the industry banned the shipment of lithium-metal batteries, we saw instances of them being passed off as lithium-ion batteries”, an expert familiar with ICAO’s move told Reuters, questioning whether a ban on the batteries would make passenger planes safer.
ICAO’s decision frees the Transportation Department to begin work on regulations to impose a ban.
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The Rechargeable Battery Association reportedly said that their “members are preparing to comply with these new regulations even with the extremely tight deadline”.
