An Air China flight diverted after a fire broke out in the overhead bin. Fortunately there were no injuries, but one certainly wonders when an incident like this will have catastrophic implications.
In this post:
Overhead bin fire causes chaos on Air China flight
This incident happened today (October 18, 2025), and involves Air China flight CA139, scheduled to operate from Hangzhou (HGH) to Seoul Incheon (ICN). The planned 607-mile flight was operated by an eight year old Airbus A321 with the registration code B-8583.
The plane took off at 9:47AM local time, and climbed up to its cruising altitude of 33,000 feet. However, once at cruise, a battery stowed in a passenger’s carry-on bag caught fire. We’re not just talking about a little bit of smoke, but a full blown fire with big flames and black smoke.
The crew managed to contain the fire, and the flight diverted to Shanghai (PVG), located just 103 miles from Hangzhou. The plane landed there at 11:05AM local time, 1hr18min after it first departed. The airline ended up rebooking passengers on another Airbus A321, with the registration code B-6883, and passengers traveled to their destination with a delay of around five hours.
Here’s the statement that Air China issued regarding the incident:
“A lithium battery spontaneously ignited in a passenger’s carry-on luggage stored in the overhead bin on flight CA139. The crew immediately handled the situation according to procedures, and no one was injured.”
The video footage of the incident is kind of wild.
Thermal runaway incidents are a big problem for airlines
Unfortunately incidents like this are no longer super rare (though the extent to which the fire spread here was a little more than what you’ll usually see). Lithium ion batteries are at risk of thermal runaway incidents, which is why travelers are always asked at check-in to confirm that they don’t have any lithium ion batteries in their checked bags.
While you never want a fire on a plane, it’s much easier to contain in the cabin than in the cargo hold. In the cabin, crews are trained on how to deal with these kinds of situations, and they have the tools needed to put out and contain fires.
What’s much more concerning is what would happen in the event that an incident like this happened in the cargo hold, which the crew wouldn’t have the ability to put out. I hate to be grim, but we’ve now seen a countless number of thermal runaway incidents in the cabins of aircraft. Sooner or later, aren’t we going to see one of these happen in the cargo hold? It’s certainly a scary thought…
Bottom line
An Air China flight today diverted to Shanghai after a lithium ion battery in the overhead bin caught fire. Fortunately the crew managed to contain the fire, and there were no injuries. These kinds of fires are becoming an increasingly big problem for airlines. Fortunately up until now, they’ve always involved batteries in the cabin. A fire like this in the cargo hold could have very different implications…
What do you make of this lithium ion battery fire incident?
China floods the market with crappy quality powerbanks and then invents a 'quality control' stamp which is only given in china, its a total joke.
your anti-China prejudice disgusts me, and it will be to your disadvantage with China's ascendance as the world's socioeconomic superpower
You can write any post about any topic and your comment section turns to a dumpster fire (or a lithium battery catching on fire onboard a plane) Maybe TPG was right about turning off comments lol
Agreed, Ben really needs to step up moderation, or just finally admit that he only cares about quantity over quality.
Moderation indeed.
1000000000 percent true
No moderation, please.
Turning off comments is the reason I don’t visit tpg anymore. Half the story is usually in the comments.
I understand and even appreciate the idea of banning power banks. But also there needs to be a list of the APPROVED power banks OR some way to have them be ...inspected, maybe? Obviously nobody wants to be carrying a Schrödinger flamebox on their person at ANY time, and also these devices are still our best bet for not having a dead phone when we desperately need a live one. There's gotta be a solution that covers both the airlines' butts and the travelers!
No wonder China has this ridiculous 3C certification regulation since summer. There are many low quality lithium ion batteries out in the market so since summer China has banned any power bank without 3C certification printed on it on domestic flights, after a series of them igniting inside cabin. So they will confiscate it from you at airport without 3C. This happened to me on a domestic flight from PVG to KMG. It was a...
No wonder China has this ridiculous 3C certification regulation since summer. There are many low quality lithium ion batteries out in the market so since summer China has banned any power bank without 3C certification printed on it on domestic flights, after a series of them igniting inside cabin. So they will confiscate it from you at airport without 3C. This happened to me on a domestic flight from PVG to KMG. It was a Xiaomi power bank manufactured in India which I got in India from their store. And they confiscated it. Worst part, 3C certification is only printed in China sold power banks so majority of power banks abroad, or in fact almost all of them, do not have this certification printed on it.
The interesting question would be the origin of the device and was it 3C compliant?
Even this was an international flight, it originated in China and it's unlikely the device owner had an international transit in HGH.
That’s the fun part, there is no method to verify if this 3C “certification” printed on the power bank is real or just randomly done by the said manufacturer. Considering there an unlimited amount of power banks that are manufactured in China, I won’t be surprised if a large chunk of them are bogus logos printed.
Anyway the regulation is also silly. Your power bank is fine on transit (international) and any international flight...
That’s the fun part, there is no method to verify if this 3C “certification” printed on the power bank is real or just randomly done by the said manufacturer. Considering there an unlimited amount of power banks that are manufactured in China, I won’t be surprised if a large chunk of them are bogus logos printed.
Anyway the regulation is also silly. Your power bank is fine on transit (international) and any international flight to or from China. So apparently your “non certified” power bank is fine for China if it does not ignite in its airspace lol
I really like the idea of certification, but agree that any such thing will be far more useful if there is a comparable certification standard in more countries, and if countries accept each other's certifications of these devices. More than ever, travelers need to have a reliable way to keep their phones alive while enroute.
Any CE or UKCA compliance should be adequate. It is not like CCC (3C) has a vastly superior or different certification process or method. If anything, the over regulation in Europe has made their products super safe compared to rest of the world
And that’s true. Powerbank is super important for me in travels. There should be better manner to regulate this
atmospheric conditions in the hold make battery fires all but impossible - no crew needed to put them out.
idiots with a bachelors degree in engineering/physics will try to say I'm wrong based on theories of lithium batteries. I hold a PhD in the subject matter focusing on the empirical practical implications. we do not need to worry about lithium fires in the cargo hold. full stop.
wtf, aren't you an attorney at a top law firm? now you say you have a PhD in battery chemistry?
I'm a JD/PhD
The late crew of OZ991 and 5X6 sends their 'theories of' the middle finger for you.
Eskimo, stop pretending like you give a shit about those crew assuming those flights even existed as you stated.
How many dollars have you donated to those crewmembers families?
How many funerals did you attend?
Or are you just virtue signaling like a POS (piece of sh*t)?
You "allegedly" have a JD/PhD and that's the best deflection you can think of?
Even that British alter ego of Tim can do better, and boy did he really sucked.
Time to find a new name before you get banned again.
Bye
Hey Mr Einstein, UPS Flight 6 crashed due to a fire caused in cargo hold by a pallet of lithium ion batteries
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UPS_Airlines_Flight_6
And not to mention why airlines tells you to remove power banks from check in luggage. They didn’t make that rule just out of fun. There is a long list of incidents to back it up
Sure Jan. There’s sufficient proof to state otherwise.