Flyers must take note before boarding flights from any airport in India! DGCA has banned the 15-inch MacBook Pro laptops on all aeroplanes. In its latest advisory, aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked passengers not to carry MacBook Pro laptops which have been categorised as a safety risk by its manufacturer Apple owing to overheating of batteries. Passengers boarding flights won’t be allowed to carry the older generation 15-inch Apple MacBook Pro laptops both as checked-in baggage or hand baggage. However, if Apple replaces, verifies or certifies the battery as “safe”, then flyers would be able to carry it as luggage on flights.
DGCA’s direction came after US tech giant Apple on June 20 issued a notice titled “15-inch MacBook Pro Battery Recall Program” on its official website. The California-based company stated that the battery of the older generation 15-inch MacBook Pro units “may overheat and pose a fire safety risk”. It said that customer safety was always Apple’s top priority, and the company had voluntarily decided to replace affected batteries, free of charge. The older generation 15-inch MacBook Pro units were sold primarily between September 2015 and February 2017, Apple stated.
DGCA chief Arun Kumar tweeted the aviation regulator’s advisory stating that DGCA requested all air passengers not to fly with the affected models either as hand-baggage or checked-in baggage until the battery has been “verified/certified as safe or replaced by the manufacturer”. Kumar also pointed towards the Apple’s statement saying the decision was taken “consequent upon the recall of a limited number of older generation 15-inch MacBook Pro laptops by Apple Inc (sold primarily between September 2015 and February 2017) due to fears that their batteries may overheat and pose a safety risk.”
Earlier in September 2016, DGCA banned the use of Galaxy Note 7 onboard flights. It had also prohibited passengers from carrying the smartphone in checked-in baggage after there were reports from a number of countries that the smart phone’s battery exploded. However, after a few days, the aviation regulator partially lifted the ban stating that flyers can carry or use Samsung Galaxy Note 7, which were purchased after September 15, 2016, on flights.