KLM Files a Police Complaint Over the KL735 Power Bank Fire, and Dutch Prosecutors Confirm a Criminal Inquiry

KLM has filed a police complaint against a passenger over the power bank fire that forced KL735 to turn back to Amsterdam on September 17, 2026. The airline confirmed the step to Dutch public broadcaster NOS, which reported it on November 13, and the Dutch Public Prosecution Service (OM) said the complaint is being handled.

In September, KLM had said it would not fine the passenger. A criminal investigation is now underway, carried out by the aviation police, according to NOS.

What KLM and the prosecutors have said

KLM confirmed that the complaint concerns “an incident with a power bank during a flight in September,” and that the flight in question was the September 17 service to Curacao. It has not said which offense the complaint alleges.

The complaint followed an internal investigation into how the fire started, a KLM spokesperson told Luchtvaartnieuws. The airline added that it is cooperating fully with the case.

In its statement, KLM said it customarily files a complaint when passengers commit gross violations of safety rules that put the safety of a flight, its passengers and its crew at risk. “Safety always comes first,” the airline said.

No decision on whether to bring charges has been made, Paddle Your Own Kanoo reported. The complaint opens a criminal process; it is not a charge, and the prosecutors decide what happens next.

Who the complaint concerns

KLM will not say. “KLM does not respond to questions about the identity of the passenger,” a spokesperson told Luchtvaartnieuws.

Dutch media reported soon after the flight that the power bank belonged to Camiel Eurlings, a former KLM chief executive and former politician, and NOS says several sources on board confirmed it at the time. NOS describes the complaint as presumably concerning him, but the airline has not confirmed that it does.

Eurlings has not been charged with anything. Luchtvaartnieuws reports that the power bank’s owner was himself injured in the fire.

What happened on KL735

The Boeing 777, registration PH-BVP, was cruising at 30,000 feet over the Atlantic with 322 people on board when a passenger’s power bank overheated in business class, according to The Aviation Herald. Cabin crew put out the fire and secured the device, and the crew turned back to Amsterdam Schiphol.

One passenger suffered minor injuries, and a business class seat was badly damaged. We covered the flight itself in our original KL735 report.

Reports at the time said the power bank had been charging while its owner slept. KLM has not confirmed that, and in September the airline said it was still investigating whether the device was in use.

Right after the flight, a KLM spokesperson told Simple Flying that passengers are told at the start of each flight that power bank use is not allowed, adding: “We do not hand out any further fines.” A police complaint is a different route: rather than a penalty from the airline, it puts the matter in the hands of the police and prosecutors.

Two investigations, two different questions

The criminal case runs beside a separate safety investigation. The Dutch Safety Board (OVV) opened its own inquiry into the fire, NL Times reported on November 4.

The board will look at how the fire started, how the crew responded, whether crews are trained well enough for power bank fires, and whether there was enough firefighting equipment on board. It hopes to finish by the end of 2027.

The fire happened off the coast of Scotland, but the UK’s investigators handed the case to the Dutch board because the aircraft is registered in the Netherlands and KLM is based there.

The two tracks answer different questions. The OVV’s own charter says it does not investigate culpability or liability, so its report will say why the fire happened and what should change, not who is to blame.

Blame is the business of the police and the OM. Whether the complaint ends in charges or a dismissal, the safety findings stay separate.

KLM’s rule leaves no gray area: a power bank may not be used or charged at all once on board, not just kept out of the overhead bin.

That is the backdrop to KLM describing the case in terms of gross violations of its safety rules. Power bank fires have also diverted a Lufthansa A321 to Lyon and a SWISS flight to Dublin this year; KL735 is the one now on a prosecutor’s desk.