A Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Lisbon was diverted to Lyon, France, on Saturday evening after a passenger's power bank caught fire during the flight, the airline said.

The aircraft, an Airbus A321-200 operating as flight LH1170 with 198 passengers and six crew aboard, was en route to the Portuguese capital when the battery began overheating near a seat. Cabin crew quickly secured the device in a specialised lithium-safe containment bag designed to contain thermal runaway, and no one was injured. "For safety reasons, the cockpit crew decided to make an alternative landing in Lyon and declared an air emergency in order to receive a priority landing," a Lufthansa spokesperson said. The aircraft landed safely in Lyon at around 10 p.m. local time.

Passengers and crew were put up in hotels overnight and rebooked onto alternative flights, resuming their journey to Lisbon on Sunday. "The safety of our passengers and crews remains Lufthansa's top priority at all times," the company said.

The incident was the second safety disruption involving a Lufthansa flight out of Frankfurt that same weekend. A separate Lufthansa flight to Toronto, carrying 371 passengers, turned back over Scotland and landed in Manchester on the same Saturday after crew detected a smell in the cabin.

Lufthansa Group has banned the use and in-flight charging of power banks across its fleet since the start of the year, with an exception for approved medical devices. Passengers may still carry up to two power banks in the cabin under certain conditions, but the devices cannot be stored in overhead compartments; they must instead be kept in the seat pocket, on the passenger's person, or in hand luggage stowed under the seat. Power banks, like e-cigarettes, are also barred from checked baggage industry-wide, since a battery fire in the cargo hold is harder to detect and contain than one in the cabin.