easyJet faced a same-day disruption at Milan Malpensa on Thursday after smoke developed in an Airbus A320 preparing to depart for Prague, forcing an emergency evacuation and a temporary halt to airport operations. The flight, U23905, had 146 passengers on board when the crew declared an emergency and passengers exited via slides. Two passengers sustained minor injuries during the evacuation.
The incident briefly shut down one of Europe’s busiest airports before operations resumed at around 18:30 on a single runway. Early reporting pointed to a suspected power bank in a passenger’s hand luggage as the likely source of the smoke, though the technical cause remained preliminary rather than fully confirmed. The aircraft was stopped near the fire service area during the incident, underscoring how quickly lithium battery-related events can escalate on board and disrupt airport operations. Airport activity later returned gradually as normal handling resumed.