Lufthansa flight to Lisbon diverts to Lyon after powerbank catches fire

A Lufthansa aircraft travelling from Frankfurt to Lisbon diverted to Lyon on Saturday evening after a passenger's external battery caught fire in the cabin. Flight LH1170, an Airbus A321-200, carried 198 passengers and six crew members when the device ignited near a passenger seat, according to Kathimerini and other outlets. Crew members acted quickly to contain the burning device, placing it inside a specialised safety bag designed for lithium batteries.

The pilots decided to divert the aircraft as a precautionary measure and declared an emergency to get priority for landing, BFMTV reported. The plane landed safely at Lyon shortly before 11pm Greek time, according to Kathimerini. Passengers and the six crew members spent the night at a hotel before continuing to Lisbon the next day. No injuries were reported.

Lufthansa has banned passengers from using or charging power banks in flight since January 2026, though travellers may bring up to two such devices on board under specific conditions. An airline spokesperson said Lufthansa regretted the disruption and that passenger and crew safety remained its top priority.

It was the second time in a short period that a Lufthansa flight had diverted, Die Zeit reported. The previous weekend, a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Toronto diverted to Manchester in the UK after an unpleasant odour was detected in the cabin; the airline gave no further detail on the cause.

A separate lithium-battery incident hit a KLM flight to Curaçao around the same period, when a power bank caught fire in the business-class cabin above the Atlantic Ocean, burning a passenger. The device belonged to former KLM director Camiel Eurlings, according to RTL Nieuws and NOS.

The day after the Lufthansa diversion, a Delta Air Lines flight from Barcelona to Boston carrying passengers made an emergency landing at Porto, Portugal, after smoke was detected in the cabin, BFMTV reported, citing Portugal's civil protection service. Several passengers received assistance, and some were hospitalised with light injuries after inhaling smoke; the cause of that incident was not known, according to emergency services.