Qatar Airways bans 'hoverboards'

Qatar Airways yesterday announces a ban on battery-powered personal vehicles commonly known as 'hoverboards' on all aircraft as it continues to put the safety of passengers and crew first.

Effective immediately, the ban applies to all small vehicles powered by lithium batteries as both checked-in baggage and as cabin baggage on all Qatar Airways flights. The ban applies regardless of the watt-hour rating of the lithium battery.

Qatar Airways senior vice president for group safety & security, Ashish Jain, said; “Qatar Airways has taken this responsible and necessary step as passenger and crew safety remain our utmost concern. Recent reports and new evidence has led to our decision to add hoverboards to our list of restricted items. Therefore we would like to notify passengers ahead of the busy travel season to ensure that no one is left unaware. Our priority is the safety of our passengers and staff, as such we cannot accept these items as either checked-in baggage or carry-on.”

Some examples of these small lithium battery-powered vehicles are: airwheel, solowheel, hoverboard, mini-segway and balance wheel. Qatar Airways is implementing the ban immediately due to concerns regarding the questionable quality of such items and the potential fire hazard associated with their batteries.