The Irish carrier’s chief executive Michael O’Leary said it was a “pan-European problem” but at its worst on some UK routes to so-called party destinations like Ibiza.
The typically outspoken CEO said authorities across the continent “don’t take it seriously”, as he urged them to consider restricting airport alcohol sales to curb the issue.
“We’ve had a notable rise, as have most of the other airlines, in bad behaviour among passengers particularly on those longer holiday flights this summer,” he told reporters at a press conference yesterday.
“It’s a real challenge for us … We are continuing to call on the government authorities to limit the amount of alcohol that can be served at Europe’s airports to no more than two drinks per passenger.”
Ryanair – which flies between 37 countries, mostly in Europe – carried nearly 184 million passengers in the 2023-24 financial year, with July and August its busiest months.
O’Leary said increasing delays at busy airports were exacerbating the bad behaviour, with people drinking more as they wait.
He also noted that “a higher rate of people” taking unspecified powdered substances, alongside alcohol, was making them more aggressive.
“In the old days, people drank too much and eventually they’d fall over,” the Ryanair boss said.
“But when you get … the mix of powder and alcohol, it becomes very difficult to manage that kind of aggressive behaviour.
“I think that’s the biggest challenge our crews are dealing with at the moment.”
Although flights between the UK and the Spanish island Ibiza – infamous for its nightlife – were “the worst”, O’Leary said Ryanair has “the same issues on Irish flights, German flights”.
“It is a pan-European problem,” he noted, while singling out some routes from UK airports like Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow and Edinburgh as particularly problematic.
The issue has become so bad on Ibiza-bound flights that Ryanair no longer allows passengers to board with any bottles, including water.
“We search their bags at the boarding gate,” O’Leary explained.
“When we were young and innocent, we used to only allow them to take on bottles of water, of course not realising it’s full of vodka.
“Now we don’t even allow them to take bottles of water.”