Swiss Flight Atlantic: Emergency Code and St. John's

What happened over the Atlantic

Swiss has recorded several incidents involving lithium batteries on board in recent weeks. At the beginning of September, an aircraft en route to Boston had to make an emergency landing in Dublin due to smoke caused by a power bank, as the Tagesanzeiger first reported. A spokesperson told the news agency: «So musste Mitte August eine Maschine auf dem Weg nach Boston in Dublin notlanden – wegen Rauchentwicklung an Bord, verursacht durch eine Powerbank.» Swiss subsequently reviewed its internal procedures.

In parallel, the airline is tightening its rules for handling mobile energy storage devices. From the beginning of October, power banks on Swiss flights may only be transported outside the seats – meaning no longer in the overhead luggage compartments above passengers. The aim is to detect any potential smoke development more quickly and cool the affected area faster, the company explained.

Tightened rules for power banks

Aviation safety experts see no elevated systemic risk to commercial air travel from these incidents, but point to the growing number of high-performance lithium batteries in passenger luggage. The Canadian transportation safety authority has taken up Thursday's incident for investigation. The Swiss accident investigation bureau has also been informed, it was said.

According to the airport operator, the landing in St. John's proceeded without further complications. Passengers were looked after on site and rebooked onto other connections to New York where possible. The onward flight from St. John's was scheduled to take place the same evening or the following day.

Investigation and consequences for the crew

Swiss has been fully part of the Lufthansa Group since 2005 and operates an extensive long-haul network from Zurich. The Zurich–New York route is one of the airline's most important North Atlantic connections. Following Thursday's incident, the crew of the affected aircraft will not be reassigned in line with operational procedures until the investigation results are available.

Swiss announced that it would proactively inform travellers with direct customer contact. Passengers whose devices had caused incidents in recent weeks had also been asked to contact the carrier in order to make the affected batteries available for analysis. The airline emphasised that passenger safety was always its top priority.