Airline boss demands huge change to airports as drunk passengers get ‘much more aggressive’

An outspoken airline boss is demanding airports enforce this particular rule after the rise of inappropriate and violent behaviour on flights.

The boss of the biggest airline in Europe has demanded airports limit passengers to two alcoholic drinks per boarding pass.

Fed up with the rise of inappropriate and violent behaviour on flights, outspoken Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary says things need to change.

“It’s not that easy for airlines to identify people who are inebriated at the gate, particularly if they are boarding with two or three others,” Mr O’Leary told British newspaper The Telegraph.

“As long as they can stand up and shuffle they will get through. Then when the plane takes off, we see the misbehaviour.

“We don’t want to begrudge people having a drink. But we don’t allow people to drink-drive, yet we keep putting them up in aircraft at 33,000 feet,” he said.

The boss of Europe’s biggest airline has called on governments to impose a limit of two alcoholic drinks per person at airports. Picture: istock

Mr O’Leary claimed drunken passengers were not just falling over or asleep like they once were but because “tablets and powder” were in the mix, leading to “much more aggressive behaviour” directed both at crew and other passengers.

He said attacks were happening weekly.

“Passengers fighting with each other is now a growing trend on board the aircraft,” he said.

A British man was convicted last month of sexually assaulting a Ryanair flight attendant after pretending he had credit card issues during a flight from Newcastle, England to Majorca, Spain last year.

Mr O’Leary believes flight delays are a contributing factor in people drinking more at the airport while they wait, and argues airports who say their bars don’t serve drunken passengers, are still serving their relatives.

Ryanair no longer allows water bottles to be taken on board flights to Spanish party island Ibiza because some passengers were filling them with vodka.

When news.com.au asked Australia’s top three busiest airports – Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne – what they thought, they all referred to the fact their licensed venues are obligated to regulate alcohol consumption under Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) requirements.

“Landside patrol teams conduct welfare checks on people showing signs of intoxication, using training to ask non-assumptive questions,” a Brisbane Airport spokesman said.

“Australian Federal Police patrol the airport and do not tolerate anti-social or dangerous behaviour.

“Airlines assess passengers’ behaviour at check-in and boarding to decide if they are fit to travel.”

news.com.au understands the captain of each aircraft has ultimate discretion over who is and who isn’t allowed to fly.

A Melbourne Airport spokesman said: “While many people enjoy a glass of champagne or beer before the start of their holiday or the end of a workday, we understand the need to do this in a responsible manner.”

Ryainair boss Michael O’Leary said attacks are happening weekly on board his planes. Picture: Pau Barrena / AFP

Scientists discover worrying effect of alcohol

In June, scientists urged travellers not to drink alcohol when flying long-haul following their study into the effects on passengers’ bodies when they fall asleep.

Researchers from the Institute of Aerospace Medicine at the German Aerospace Center studied the interacting effects of alcohol and sleep at altitude using a series of lab experiments.

They had 40 healthy people consume alcohol before sleeping in a sleep laboratory 53 metres above sea, or in an altitude chamber corresponding to 2438 metres above sea level.

When at cruising altitude the cabin pressure of an aircraft is usually 2438 metres or less.

The results found that when sleeping after moderate alcohol consumption, people’s blood oxygen saturations dropped to worrisome levels and heart rates increased.

“The combination of alcohol and in-flight hypobaric hypoxia [low oxygen concentration at high altitudes] reduced sleep quality, challenged the cardiovascular system and led to extended duration of hypoxaemia [low level of oxygen in the blood],” the report, published in the journal Thorax, found.

“Even in these young and healthy subjects, critical oxygen desaturations below 90 per cent were registered,” it found.

Study co-author Dr Eva-Maria Elmenhorst told NBC News that while they expected alcohol consumption at low air pressure to have an effect on people, they were “surprised to see that the effect was so strong,” and urged flyers not to drink alcohol while on a plane.