Air rage is at an all-time high this summer, the chief executive of Ryanair has said, with Michael O’Leary blaming the high level of flight delays across Europe this summer – together with growing numbers of passengers taking drugs as well as alcohol. As passenger disruption soars, the boss of Europe’s biggest budget airline has called for a two-drink limit to be imposed at airports across Europe. Speaking to The Independent , Mr O’Leary said: “We are seeing record numbers.
We and most of the airlines around Europe are seeing a spike upwards, particularly this summer, of disgruntled passengers on board. “I think the real challenge is: flight delays are up at a record high this summer, so people are spending time in airports drinking before they board aircraft.” Earlier this month, a passenger on a Ryanair flight from from Manchester to Lanzarote described how he felt forced to act as a security guard after an intoxicated man “went bananas” while the plane was mid-air .
At a news conference in London, Michael O’Leary said: “Passengers fighting with each other is a growing trend on board aircraft. That’s the biggest challenge are crews are dealing with at the moment. “We were probably dealing with at least one bad case of assault on a weekly basis now.
” Five or 10 years ago, he said, “it would have been almost zero”. He said the use of illicit drugs was partly responsible. “You would always have drunk passengers but drunk passengers generally fall asleep,” he said.
“Drunk passengers who are on powder and tablets get aggressive.” “We’ve made submissions to the governments across Europe. We want two things.
One: much more effective fines – fining passengers by the local magistrates when they’re hauled off planes for disruptive behaviour. “And two: we need to have a ban on airports – not [on] selling alcohol, but limiting the amount of alcohol that can be sold to any passenger to two alcoholic drinks. “So in the same way that you have to show your boarding pass when you go through duty free to buy cigarettes or alcohol, we believe you should have to show your boarding pass to buy an alcoholic drink at a bar at an airport.
And you shouldn’t be served more than two alcoholic drinks – particularly when flights are delayed.” Sinead Quinn, Ryanair’s director of inflight services, said: “If you’re hanging around the airport, you’re in the bar, there’s no controls. On the plane you can control the consumption of alcohol.
But at the bar if you’re there for two extra hours, people are just consuming extra alcohol.” Michael O’Leary singled out flights from Liverpool and Glasgow to Ibiza as particularly prone to disruption. “On any of our Ibiza flights we won’t allow anybody on board with any bottles at all – we search their bags at the boarding gate,” he said.
“God be with us, when we were young and innocent we used to allow them take on bottles of water – not realising it was full of vodka. Now we don’t even allow them to take bottles of water on board.” The Independent has asked Liverpool and Glasgow airports for responses.
The Civil Aviation Authority says: “The punishment for disruption varies depending on the severity. Acts of drunkenness on an aircraft face a maximum fine of £5,000 and two years in prison. “The prison sentence for endangering the safety of an aircraft is up to five years.
“Disruptive passengers may also be asked to reimburse the airline with the cost of the diversion. Diversion costs typically range from £10,000 to £80,000.” The UK Travel Retail Forum, the Airport Operators’ Association and the International Air Transport Association have been running an information campaign titled One Too Many since 2018.
The campaign “ aims to encourage passengers to behave responsibly – or be held personally responsible”. Should alcohol be banned on flights?.
