Ban early morning pre-flight pint, says Michael O'Leary

By Neil Lancefield, Press Association Transport Correspondent

Airports should be banned from serving alcohol to passengers before early morning flights, Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has said.

He said the measure would reduce the number of passengers who were disruptive onboard aircraft.

O’Leary said Ryanair was being forced to divert an average of nearly one flight every day because of bad behaviour onboard, up from one a week a decade ago.

In an interview with The Times, O’Leary said: “It’s becoming a real challenge for all airlines.

“I fail to understand why anybody in airport bars is serving people at five or six o’clock in the morning.

“Who needs to be drinking beer at that time?”

Airside bars in the UK are not required to follow restrictions on opening hours which apply to other venues selling alcohol.

O’Leary said: “There should be no alcohol served at airports outside (those) licensing hours.”

He said Ryanair rarely served more than two drinks to a passenger, and called for a two-drink limit to be introduced at airports.

He added: “We are reasonably responsible, but the ones who are not responsible, the ones who are profiteering off it, are the airports who have these bars open at five or six o’clock in the morning and during delays are quite happy to send these people as much alcohol as they want because they know they’re going to export the problem to the airlines.”

Being drunk on a plane is a criminal offence and can be punished by a fine of up to £5,000 and two years’ imprisonment.

In January last year, Ryanair announced it had started taking legal action to recover losses against disruptive passengers when they forced a flight to be diverted.

It said it filed legal proceedings against a passenger in Ireland to seek 15,000 euros (£12,500) in damages related to a flight from Dublin to Lanzarote.