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Plastic bags for batteries? Korea's airport rule sparks debate
Inspectors examine fire damage to an Air Busan plane at Gimhae International Airport in Busan, Jan. 30. It is presumed a passenger's battery caught fire before the flight bound for Hong Kong took off. Yonhap
By Park Ung
Experts recommend other measures to prevent internal short circuits
Airport security officers in Korea may soon add another essential item to their toolkit alongside hand-held metal detectors and inspection gloves: plastic bags.
Since last month, passengers are required to carry their batteries in bags during flights to by shield the terminals from contact with other items, as part of measures to prevent potential fires from batteries without short-circuit protection.
For those who forget to do so, screeners at security checks will provide passengers with plastic bags, according to guidelines the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport issued recently to airport authorities.
This measure followed a blaze aboard an Air Busan flight in January. It is believed a battery stored in an overhead bin ignited just before takeoff at Gimhae International Airport, forcing the emergency evacuation of all 176 passengers and crew.
The ministry’s directive quickly drew criticism, with the most pressing question: Are plastic bags truly effective in preventing battery fires?
“Handing out plastic bags is completely pointless,” Lee Yong-kang, a professor of aviation security at Hanseo University, told The Korea Times.
“Unlike the removable batteries in old cellphones, today’s power banks are sealed units, which makes the risk of fires from external short circuits very low,” he said.
Even worse, many passengers simply discard the plastic bags after security checkpoints to use the batteries in the immigration area, according to a senior official from the Incheon branch of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, one of the country’s two largest umbrella unions.
“Most passengers ended up discarding the plastic bags anyway, rendering the measure ineffective,” he said on condition of anonymity.
A notice about regulations on batteries and a stack of sealable bags for flights are displayed on a table in the departure hall of Terminal 1 at Incheon International Airport, March 1. Yonhap
At Incheon International Airport, about 10,000 sealable bags costing 17 won (1.2 cents) each are used daily, while Gimpo International Airport uses around 5,000 bags per week at a cost of 25 won each, according to internal estimates.
Experts say the government should focus on more practical measures to prevent internal short circuits.
Lee argued that a more effective approach to preventing lithium battery-related in-flight fire risks would be to equip aircraft with portable containers filled with dry sand — proven to be effective against lithium fires — or with extinguishing agents designed for metal fires, rather than relying on plastic bags.
“That way, if a fire risk arises, portable power banks can be placed inside and sealed immediately,” he said.
Another recommended safety measure is to encourage passengers to carry fewer fully charged batteries, as those at full capacity are more susceptible to fires caused by internal circuit failures.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, for example, advises that lithium-ion cells not packed with or contained in equipment be transported at a state of charge no higher than 30 percent when shipped as cargo.
Experts also recommend using batteries with the Korea Certification Mark, which are considered safer.
In other major countries, placing each battery in a plastic bag may be considered one acceptable method among several, but airports do not distribute plastic bags, nor is it mandatory as it is in Korea.
In the United States, uninstalled spare lithium-ion batteries — including power banks and phone charging cases — are permitted only in carry-on baggage. To prevent short circuits, battery terminals must be protected, typically with nonconductive tape.
The European Union follows the same policy but goes a step further, requiring that batteries be properly tested in accordance with the United Nations Manual of Tests and Criteria. To ensure compliance, travelers are encouraged to purchase batteries from reputable retailers and avoid low-cost products from unreliable sources.