Japan to ban use of power banks on airplanes

The ministry will also limit the number of such portable chargers on board to two per passenger, according to informed sources.

The move follows a series of incidents in which power banks emitted smoke or caught fire during flights, and reflects the International Civil Aviation Organization's plan to adopt new regulations as early as late March.

In January last year, a fire occurred on a passenger plane at an airport in the southern South Korean city of Busan, believed to have been caused by a power bank igniting inside an overhead compartment.

Since last July, the ministry and airlines have asked passengers to keep their portable chargers accessible, rather than putting them in storage, and to use them in areas where their condition can be monitored at all times.