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Louise Thomas

Editor

Air rage is at an all-time high, 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 European airports.

Speaking to The Independent‘s travel podcast, 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.”

The UK Travel Retail Forum, the Airport Operators’ Association and the International Air Transport Association have been running an information campaign entitled One Too Many since 2018. The campaign “aims to encourage passengers to behave responsibly – or be held personally responsible”.

Many alcohol retailers sign up for Best Bar None accreditation, which encourages “responsible alcohol management practices”.

But 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.”

A spokesperson for the Merseyside airport said: “Liverpool John Lennon Airport has a zero-tolerance approach to disruptive passenger behaviour and works closely with its retail partners to ensure the responsible and controlled supply of alcohol and to encourage responsible consumption by passengers, with a disruptive passenger protocol in place.

“All alcohol retailers at the airport are Best Bar None-accredited and the airport is a signatory to a code of practice, working with its retail partners to prevent and minimise the number of disruptive passenger incidents following best practice with the sale of alcohol.”

Glasgow airport is owned and operated by AGS AIrports, whose spokesperson said: “Instances of disruptive behaviour are extremely rare, however, any incident is one too many.

“When it does happen it can often disproportionately affect a large number of passengers as well as airline and airport staff which is why AGS adopts a zero-tolerance approach to such behaviour.

“Through our Campus Watch initiative, which was launched in 2013, we provide training, advice and support to staff who interact with passengers on a daily basis. This includes check-in staff, security teams, bar and restaurant employees, retailers and airline crews.

“Staff across the campus are encouraged to report the details of any potential incident to the airport’s central control room through a dedicated phone number. This information is shared with staff across the airport campus via a rapid text alert system and passengers can be given warnings, monitored by police and airport staff, or even refused alcohol at bars and restaurants.”

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.”

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