Can you take drones on a plane?
Carry-on: Yes Checked: Conditions Same on domestic flights
The drone itself can fly either way, but its lithium batteries follow the spare-battery rules: carry-on only, terminals protected, the usual size bands.
Check your destination's drone import and flying rules separately - several countries confiscate them on arrival.
Split the drone from its batteries and the rules become simple. The airframe itself can travel in either bag. The lithium batteries follow the spare-battery rules: cabin only, terminals protected, never in the hold.
The size bands are the same ones that apply to power banks. Under 100Wh needs no approval and covers most consumer drone batteries. Between 100Wh and 160Wh needs airline approval and is capped at two per passenger. Above 160Wh cannot fly as baggage at all.
The bigger risk is not the flight. Several countries restrict or confiscate drones on arrival, and a few require registration or a permit before the drone enters the country. That is a destination rule rather than an aviation one, and it is worth checking well before you pack.
Flying within Australia? This rule does not change.
Lithium battery rules are dangerous-goods rules, not screening rules, so they are identical on a domestic flight.
Two rules explain most of this page. Lithium batteries fly in the cabin so the crew can reach them, and the 100ml liquid limit is an international rule. Your flight home is screened under the departure country's rules, which are sometimes stricter than Australia's.
Drones: common questions
Can you take a drone on a plane?
Yes. The drone can travel in either carry-on or checked baggage, but its lithium batteries must be in the cabin with the terminals protected. Never put drone batteries in checked baggage.
Can you take a drone on a plane in Australia?
Yes, on both domestic and international flights. Lithium battery rules are dangerous-goods rules, so they are identical either way: batteries in the cabin, terminals protected, size bands as for power banks.
How many drone batteries can you take on a plane?
Batteries under 100Wh need no airline approval. Between 100Wh and 160Wh you need approval and are limited to two per passenger. Anything over 160Wh cannot travel as passenger baggage.
Do you have to declare drone batteries at check-in?
Tell the airline if any battery is over 100Wh, since those need approval. It is worth carrying batteries in a fireproof pouch with the terminals taped, which also makes the check-in conversation shorter.
Flying soon? Screening is the easy part
What stops Australians at the airport is more often the passport, the visa or the phone than the bag. Say where you are going and we will show you the entry rules for an Australian passport, what an eSIM actually costs there, and what the insurance covers.
Travel insurance
Drones are excluded outright by several Australian policies, and covered only as a named high-value item by others. Worth knowing which yours is before it goes in the bag.
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What is actually worth booking.
New destination guides and side-by-side comparisons for Australian travellers - which eSIM, which travel card, which insurance is worth paying for, and what to sort before you go. Prices in Australian dollars, a few emails a year.
Packing something else? The full A to Z of what you can take on a plane covers 61 items, the domestic flight rules set out what changes when you are not leaving the country, and the pre-departure checklist puts the rest of the trip in order.
Last reviewed 2 September 2026. Screening, dangerous-goods and biosecurity rules change, and airlines can be stricter than the government baseline. For anything unusual, the linked source and your airline's dangerous-goods page are the final word.