The CEO of the Irish low-cost airline Ryanair, Michael O'Leary, wants passengers to only be able to consume two alcoholic beverages at airports to combat incidents before and during flights. He explained this in an interview published this Wednesday by the British newspaper The Telegraph.
In this way, he seeks to avoid a repeat of embarrassing scenes such as those suffered on different tourist routes from Lanzarote, where different flights have had to turn around due to conflictive passengers who were under the influence of alcohol.
The head of the Irish airline recalled that cases of violent altercations on board aircraft have increased this summer and now occur every week, especially on certain routes to vacation destinations.
O'Leary indicated that assaults on the crew are his biggest concern, although he warned that confrontations between passengers are becoming more frequent due, according to him, to the mixture of alcohol with "powder and pills", in reference to narcotic substances.
In his opinion, airport authorities should impose a limit of two alcoholic beverages per boarding pass to address the risk of altercations, which also increases, he said, with delays affecting some airports, with more waiting time to consume.
Although Ryanair recently began checking passengers' luggage on routes from the United Kingdom to the Spanish island of Ibiza to prevent them from boarding with bottles of alcohol, O'Leary alluded to the difficulties in identifying intoxicated people, especially if they are traveling in a group.
"As long as they can stand and move, they can pass. Then, when the plane takes off, that's when we see the bad behavior," he explained.
The CEO of Ryanair, the leader in Europe in the budget flight sector, indicated that routes from British airports to "party" destinations are particularly problematic, but specified that they also occur in their operations in Ireland and Germany.
"Before, people who drank too much ended up collapsing or falling asleep. But now those passengers also take pills and powders. With that mixture, you have much more aggressive behaviors that are very difficult to control," O'Leary stressed.
The airports, "of course", oppose, he lamented, "that their bars do not serve drunk passengers", although they do so "to the companions of the drunk traveler".
"What we are asking for will not affect their profits. The bars can continue selling their drinks and food. However, government agencies in the United Kingdom and throughout Europe do not take it seriously," O'Leary concluded.
