EASA publishes new recommendations on managing risks of lithium batteries

COLOGNE, May 28, 2025 — The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) published a new Safety Information Bulletin (SIB) highlighting the risks to safe air travel which can posed by lithium batteries. The SIB was issued in response to an increased number of safety events involving lithium batteries carried by passengers on board commercial passenger aircraft. This SIB compiles and updates relevant information from other SIBs on lithium batteries, which have been withdrawn. An SIB can be addressed to the airline industry, in this case primarily airlines and other aircraft operators, and highlights a specific new or evolving safety issue. This SIB calls on airlines to extend and reinforce their existing communication to passengers on the restrictions related to lithium battery transport and appeals for the correct behaviours to mitigate the risks. It also reminds of the mandate to train airline and airport staff on the associated risks and to properly communicate dangerous good restrictions to the passengers.“Smart phones and computers powered by lithium batteries are now an inherent part of our daily lives, and we know that each passenger now takes four to five such items with them on a flight,” said Jesper Rasmussen, Flight Standards Director at EASA. “Airlines and their ground staff need to make sure passengers know how to travel with these items responsibly. This includes prompting them to think carefully about not packing the devices in their check-in baggage but...