The encyclopedia · Product & Design · Product decision · 2023-2025
A Romoss power bank caught fire mid-flight and forced a diversion
A Romoss power bank went into thermal runaway mid-flight, forcing a diversion — China recalled 491,745 units, then banned uncertified power banks from flights.
Romoss Technology · 2025-03-20
What happened
On March 20, 2025, a 20,000mAh Romoss power bank in the overhead bin of Hong Kong Airlines flight HX115, from Hangzhou to Hong Kong, went into thermal runaway about half an hour after takeoff. Crew and passengers fought the fire for roughly 20 minutes before it was out; the Airbus A320 diverted and landed at Fuzhou, with no injuries reported. France's aviation accident investigation bureau later confirmed the Romoss battery as the cause.
Romoss recalled 491,745 power banks across three models — PAC20-272, PAC20-392 and PLT20A-152 — manufactured between June 2023 and July 2024, citing defective raw materials in battery cells supplied by Amprius (Wuxi). Laboratory testing by Beijing Union University later found one 20,000mAh model reached 98°C internally when overcharged, with a 17% electrolyte leakage rate; Beijing universities banned Romoss power banks from campus in June 2025.
China's Civil Aviation Administration responded with a nationwide rule: starting June 28, 2025, passengers could not carry power banks without 3C certification, with unclear certification markings, or from any recalled batch onto domestic flights. In the second quarter of 2025 alone, 12 manufacturers including Romoss, Anker and Baseus recalled power banks over battery-cell short-circuit risks, some tied to certificates later found to be fraudulent.
Why it happened
- Romoss shipped more than a year of power-bank production on battery cells from a single supplier before a mid-flight fire forced a recall of nearly half a million units.
- The defect wasn't isolated to Romoss — the same supplier's cells and certification gaps touched a dozen manufacturers, turning one airline incident into a flight ban covering a whole product category.
The lesson
One power bank catching fire in a cabin was enough evidence for a national regulator — the aviation ban didn't wait for a second incident, because the first one was already airborne.
Aftermath
China's power bank industry faced a broad safety reckoning through 2025: certification suspensions across major brands, a nationwide flight restriction, and Romoss pursuing financial recovery from Amprius (Wuxi) for the battery-cell defects. The company's reputation took a visible hit as Beijing campuses banned its products outright.
Sources
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