Ryanair makes calls to curb airport drinking

Budget airline Ryanair has called for a two drink limit at airports after it was revealed that the number of people arrested for being drunk at UK airports and on board flights had risen by 50% in the last year.

It follows a BBC ‘Panorama’ investigation which revealed that between February 2016 and February 2017, 387 people were arrested in UK airports for being drunk and disorderly – a 50% rise from the 255 people arrested in the previous year.

The Civil Aviation Authority meanwhile has reported a 600% increase in “disruptive” incidents on flights in the UK between 2012 and 2016, with “most” involving alcohol although it put this down to an improvement in the reporting of such incidents rather than an actual rise in their occurrence.

Yesterday, Ryanair, called on UK airports to step up their efforts to better prevent excessive alcohol consumption by passengers prior to boarding.

It has called on airports to ban the sale of all alcohol in bars and restaurants before 10am. Unlike on-trade venues, licensing laws which prevent the sale of alcohol outside permitted hours do not apply to sales of alcohol at UK international airports. Bars can remain open to serve passengers on the earliest and latest flights, which can be as early as 4am.

Ryanair has also suggested introducing mandatory use of boarding cards when purchasing alcoholic drinks in bars and restaurants (in the same way a boarding card is needed for airport purchases) and limiting the number of drinks per passenger to two.

“It’s completely unfair that airports can profit from the unlimited sale of alcohol to passengers and leave the airlines to deal with the safety consequences,” said Ryanair’s Kenny Jacobs.

“This is a particular problem during flight delays when airports apply no limit to the sale of alcohol in airside bars and restaurants. This is an issue which the airports must now address and we are calling for significant changes to prohibit the sale of alcohol at airports, particularly with early morning flights and when flights are delayed.”

Ryanair has already banned its passengers from consuming their own duty-free purchases on board, with passengers flying from Glasgow Prestwick and Manchester to Alicante and Ibiza not permitted to bring duty free alcohol on board the aircraft at all.

The Home Office is said to be “considering” calls for tougher rules on alcohol in airports following the Panorama investigation.

It is a criminal offence to enter an aircraft when drunk or drunk on board, with a maximum sentence of two years’ imprisonment.