From the lighter to the external battery, including electronic cigarettes and fireworks, dangerous objects seized in the luggage of passengers at Zurich airport increase from year to year. In question: the electronization of society and the increase in the number of vacationers who do not know the rules.
An emergency battery crushed at the bottom of a suitcase gives off smoke and quickly sets fire. Small but noisy explosions accompany the flames. Not enough to worry about is a demonstration made Wednesday in front of the media gathered at Zurich airport.
Without the vigilance of the security personnel, this event could constitute a real case on a plane. This is why the lithium-ion cell battery is one of the “dangerous goods” (“dangerous articles”), which are entered in passenger luggage.
![A used battery (illustration image). [KEYSTONE - CHRISTIAN MERZ]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw== "A used battery (illustration image). [KEYSTONE - CHRISTIAN MERZ]")
180,000 objects withdrawn last year
In the list of these dangerous items prohibited from air travel, there are accumulators, electronic cigarettes, gas cartridges, aerosol sprays, lighters or fireworks. A total of 140,000 pieces were removed last year from the recorded suitcases and 40,000 hand luggage. They have particularly increased among the recorded luggage for transportation in the hold, said the main airport in Switzerland.
And this figure is increasing. In 2023, the seizures were still 90,000 in recorded luggage and 30,000 in hand luggage. In the first half of 2025, Zurich airport has already identified 80,000 dangerous objects in the suitcases and 20,000 in hand luggage.
During the 2024 national holiday, a passenger wanted to take a fireworks for a hundred fireworks, explains Rolf Blöchliger, head of the airport head. Small refrigerators and special mountaineer beacons have also been found in luggage.
>> The interview in the morning of Rolf Blöchliger, responsible for security services in Kloten:
The tendency to all electronics
The main reason for this gradual increase lies in an increasingly frequent trend of external batteries and “powerbank” type aid battery, as well as technological aids to mobility and objects powered by battery. The multiplication of the number of electronic goods per passenger and leisure trips also contributes to this increase in seized articles.
In addition, the regulations in this area become more and more complex, which often places passengers in front of a puzzle. The least experienced of them – vacationers – being increasing, the number of seized objects follows the same curve.
Zurich airport is focusing on the training of its staff and various communication measures to improve its prevention, on posters and its online site, in particular.
Dangerous articles are distinguished from prohibited objects in the cabin, such as scissors, Swiss knives, tools or liquids over 100 ml. The latter are authorized in the luggage recorded in the hold, because they are not considered as dangerous objects legal. Dangerous articles are considered as such because of their intrinsic chemical or physical properties.
Ostolu with Ats
