Ryanair CEO urges ban on early airport drinks amid rising misbehaviour

A bleary‑eyed pint at an airport bar before an early morning flight may become a thing of the past if Ryanair’s boss, Michael O’Leary, gets his way.

The airline’s chief executive, no stranger to controversy, has argued that airports should be barred from serving alcohol to passengers before early flights in order to cut the number of disruptive travellers on planes.

O’Leary said Ryanair is forced to divert an average of nearly one flight each day because of bad behaviour on board, up from roughly one a week ten years ago.

In an interview with the Times he remarked: “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?”

Airport bars in the UK are not bound by the opening‑hour restrictions that apply to other venues selling alcohol. O’Leary added: “There should be no alcohol served at airports outside [those] licensing hours.”

He noted that Ryanair rarely serves more than two drinks per passenger and called for a two‑drink limit to be introduced at airports as well. He did not specify whether he would restrict the times alcohol is served on Ryanair flights.

Being drunk on an aircraft is a criminal offence, punishable by a fine of up to £5,000 and up to two years’ imprisonment.

Ryanair announced last January that it had begun taking legal action against disruptive passengers to recover losses when they forced a flight to be diverted. The airline said it had filed proceedings against a passenger in Ireland seeking €15,000 (£12,500) in damages related to a flight from Dublin to Lanzarote.