The boss of Ryanair has called for an alcohol limit at airport bars amid claims drunken and drugged up passengers disrupt flights.
Michael O’Leary, running Europe’s largest airline, said there has been a ‘notable rise’ in bad behaviour because of inebriated travellers.
He wants a two-drink limit on each boarding pass, explaining: ‘It’s not that easy for airlines to identify people who are inebriated. As long as they can stand up, they’ll get through.
‘Then, when the plane takes off, we see the misbehaviour.’
Mr O’Leary said airports are opposed to changes, insisting that they refuse to serve passengers who are too drunk. But he added: ‘They do serve the relatives of the drunken passenger.’
The Irishman, who started the budget carrier in 1984, revealed Ryanair was dealing with assault cases on a weekly basis.
He stated flights from the UK are particularly troublesome, especially to ‘party destinations’ such as Ibiza, from regional airports including Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Mr O’Leary added: ‘We used to only allow them to take bottles of water on board, not realising they were full of vodka. Now we don’t even allow those.
‘In the old days, people who drank too much would eventually fall over or fall asleep. But now those passengers are also on tablets and powder.’
His remarks come after a British holidaymaker was convicted of sexually assaulting a flight attendant on a Ryanair service from Newcastle to Majorca in 2023.