Michael O’Leary urges morning alcohol ban in Aéroport bars
Michael O’Leary called on Wednesday for alcohol to be banned early in the morning in airports, arguing that passengers should not be served at five or six a.m. He said aéroport bars should not offer alcohol at those hours.
O’Leary said Ryanair is now forced to divert almost one aircraft per day because of the behavior of some passengers. He added that ten years ago the airline may have had one flight diversion per week, and that the figure is now close to one per day.
Ryanair and passenger behavior
“Je ne comprends absolument pas pourquoi des gens sont servis dans les bars des aéroports à cinq ou six heures du matin. Qui a besoin de boire de la bière à cette heure-là ?” O’Leary said in the columns of the Times. He also said: “Il ne devrait pas y avoir de service d’alcool dans les aéroports.”
He said airport establishments are willing to serve as much alcohol as passengers want when there are delays, “qui, en cas de retard, sont tout à fait disposés à servir autant d’alcool que ces gens en veulent, parce qu’ils savent qu’ils vont exporter le problème vers les compagnies aériennes.” That leaves Ryanair dealing with the disruption after departure rather than at the airport bar.
June fine at Ryanair
Ryanair announced in June that it would impose a 500 euro fine on disruptive passengers whose behavior leads to them being removed from the aircraft. O’Leary said the airline is trying to limit the cost of those incidents as it carries a little more than 200 million passengers in the 2024-25 financial year.
Ryanair serves 36 countries, mainly in Europe, and aims to carry 300 million passengers by 2034. The scale of that network leaves the airline facing more exposure when behavior problems lead to delays and diversions.
United Kingdom and Ibiza
In 2024, O’Leary said flights between the United Kingdom and destinations such as Ibiza were the worst. He also said: “Tant que quelqu’un ne provoquera pas un accident entraînant l’écrasement d’un avion et la mort de centaines de personnes, aucun gouvernement ne prendra véritablement ce problème au sérieux.”
For passengers, the immediate issue is the hours before departure: O’Leary wants alcohol service cut off in airport bars at five or six a.m., while Ryanair is already trying to deter disruptive conduct with a 500 euro fine. The airline’s complaint is that the problem starts on the ground and ends in the cockpit.
