The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has banned shipments of lithium-ion batteries as cargo on passenger aircraft on an interim basis.
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The new aviation safety guideline will be implemented from 1 April. It does not impose a ban on personal electronic devices with lithium-ion batteries carried by passengers or crew members.
ICAO council president Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu said: "Safety is always our most fundamental priority in international civil aviation.
"This interim prohibition will continue to be in force as separate work continues through ICAO on a new lithium battery packaging performance standard, currently expected by 2018."
The ICAO Air Navigation Commission and the UN’s Dangerous Goods, Flight Operations, and Airworthiness panels undertook extensive reviews before adopting the new guideline.
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By GlobalDataAircraft manufacturers and pilots associations have been demanding a ban on lithium-ion cargo shipments on passenger planes.
Battery shipments were blamed for two Boeing 747 crashes, one of which was in Dubai in 2010 and another in South Korea in 2011, reported The Washington Post.
In 2013, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded an entire fleet of Boeing 787s following several battery fires.
