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Pilots applaud ICAO battery ban, but want it extended to frieghters

COMMERCIAL Pilots are still reacting to the International Civil Aviation Organisation's (ICAO) decision to ban the carriage of lithium batteries as cargo on passenger planes until safer packaging is available, reported Atlanta area Air Cargo World.

The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) applauded the ban, saying lithium-ion batteries pose "a significant safety risk on passenger flights," adding that "more needs to be done to address the situation of bulk shipments of lithium-metal and lithium-ion batteries on cargo aircraft."

"ALPA supports the continued development of a long-term plan that would allow safe shipment on all aircraft, but the shipments on cargo airlines must be addressed," the union continued.

The International Federation of Air Line Pilots'Associations (IFALPA) said that "more needs to be done" to address the safety of lithium-ion battery shipments on cargo aircraft, reported London's Air Cargo News.

IFALPA represents 100,000 pilots in more than 100 countries worldwide.

IFALPA dangerous goods committee chairman Mark Rogers said: "The risk these batteries pose is the same regardless of the aircraft type, however, and we now call on ICAO to extend the same protections to cargo aircraft.

The Global Shippers' Forum (GSF), something of a regulatory privateer, said it was unhappy because the ban did not ban undeclared battery shipments or low-quality counterfeits, which is not shippers' issue but gives GSF a role in the debate as a bona fide shipper representative when it has been rejected by the European Shippers Council and the Asia Shippers Council.