Michael O’Leary, the CEO of Ryanair, has decided that the scourge of early-morning in-flight chaos might actually be preventable. His solution? Stop serving alcohol at airports before the sun is fully committed to being up.
O’Leary told the Times that disruptive passenger behavior has forced Ryanair to divert nearly one flight per day - up from just one per week a decade ago. “I fail to understand why anybody in airport bars is serving people at five or six o’clock in the morning,” he said, apparently unaware that airports operate in a strange limbo where normal licensing laws don't apply. “Who needs to be drinking beer at that time?”
Airside bars in the UK currently enjoy an exemption from standard opening hours, meaning a 5 a.m. pint is perfectly legal. O’Leary wants that changed, arguing that airports are “quite happy to send these people as much alcohol as they want because they know they’re going to export the problem to the airlines.” He also called for a two-drink limit at airports, noting that Ryanair itself rarely serves more than two drinks to a passenger.
For the record, being drunk on a plane is already a criminal offense, punishable by a fine of up to £5,000 and two years in prison. But apparently, that deterrent isn’t enough to stop someone who’s already three Bloody Marys deep before 7 a.m. In January last year, Ryanair began taking legal action to recover costs from disruptive passengers, including a case in Ireland seeking €15,000 (£12,500) in damages for a diverted flight from Dublin to Lanzarote.