2026 comparison
Drone & lithium battery rules by airline
Side-by-side screening of 20 operating carriers. Use the live checker for your exact battery manifest and connections.
Read this table conservatively: “general*” means the airline page did not support a simpler stricter count in our source set, so the site uses the current general screen and tells you to verify.
| Airline | Drone cabin | Drone checked | Small spares | 100–160 Wh | Power banks | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryanair | Allowed | Not allowed | 20 | Not accepted | 2 × ≤100 Wh | Official ↗ |
| Emirates | Not allowed | Allowed | 20 | Prior airline approval | 1 × ≤100 Wh | Official ↗ |
| Qatar Airways | Allowed | Remove battery | 20 | Prior airline approval | 2 × ≤100 Wh | Official ↗ |
| Lufthansa | Allowed | Conditional | 20 | Prior airline approval | 2 × ≤100 Wh; 101–160 approval | Official ↗ |
| British Airways | Allowed | Conditional | 4 | Prior airline approval | 2 × ≤100 Wh | Official ↗ |
| Etihad Airways | Allowed | Allowed | 2 | Prior airline approval | 1 × ≤100 Wh | Official ↗ |
| Air France | Allowed | Conditional | 20 | Prior airline approval | 2 × ≤100 Wh; 101–160 approval | Official ↗ |
| Turkish Airlines | Allowed | Verify | 15 | Prior airline approval | 2 × ≤100 Wh | Official ↗ |
| Air Canada | Allowed | Remove battery | 20 | Prior airline approval | 2 × ≤100 Wh | Official ↗ |
| American Airlines | Allowed | Remove battery | 4 | Prior airline approval | 2 × ≤100 Wh | Official ↗ |
| Delta Air Lines | Allowed | Conditional | 20 | Prior airline approval | 2 × ≤100 Wh | Official ↗ |
| KLM | Allowed | Conditional | 20 | Prior airline approval | 2 × ≤100 Wh | Official ↗ |
| Singapore Airlines | Allowed | Conditional | 20 | Prior airline approval | 2 × ≤100 Wh | Official ↗ |
| Qantas | Verify | Verify | 20 | Prior airline approval | 2 × ≤160 Wh (verify >100) | Official ↗ |
| easyJet | Allowed | Conditional | 2 | Airline states no separate prior approval | 2 × ≤160 Wh (verify >100) | Official ↗ |
| Southwest Airlines | Allowed | Conditional | 20 | Verify with airline | 1 × ≤100 Wh | Official ↗ |
| ANA | Allowed | Conditional | 20 | Verify with airline | 2 × ≤160 Wh (verify >100) | Official ↗ |
| Transavia | Allowed | Remove battery | 20 | Verify with airline | 2 × ≤100 Wh | Official ↗ |
| Cathay Pacific | Conditional | Conditional | 20 | Verify with airline | 2 × ≤100 Wh | Official ↗ |
| Wizz Air | Allowed | Conditional | 20 | Prior airline approval | 1 × ≤100 Wh | Official ↗ |
Why connections change the answer
A permissive first segment does not cancel a stricter second one. The live checker evaluates each operating carrier separately and shows the strongest hard stop or approval requirement.
Why power banks are separate now
IATA's 2026 passenger guidance uses a general screen of at most two power banks at no more than 100 Wh each. Some operating airlines currently publish different operator-specific ceilings or approval processes, so the checker surfaces those differences as CHECK / APPROVAL or VERIFY instead of silently overriding one source with another.