Ryanair Petitions Britain’s Airports to Restrict Pre-Flight Booze Sales

The airline has already put its own restrictions into place on certain routes, but is calling on airports to do more to prevent disruptive in-flight behavior.

Low-cost carrier Ryanair is petitioning British airports to curb alcohol sales after a sharp rise in the number of intoxicated travelers arrested by police during the last year. An investigation by the BBC‘s Panorama program indicates that 387 drunken passengers were detained between February 2016 and 2017. This is a 50 percent increase on the 255 travelers arrested during the same period for 2015.

The carrier already prohibits passengers flying on certain routes from bringing alcohol onboard its planes, but it is now requesting that airports halt the sale of booze in bars and restaurants before 10 a.m. Additionally, it is requesting that passengers are limited to a maximum of two alcoholic drinks per boarding pass. Finally, it is also asking airports to restrict the sale of drinks during flight delays.

According to Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the vast majority of disruptive in-flight incidents that took place between 2012 and 2016 involved alcohol.

Commenting on the carrier’s request in an official statement, Kenny Jacobs, Ryanair’s chief marketing officer, said, “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. 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.”

He added, “As the largest airline in Europe, Ryanair’s number one priority is the safety of our customers, crew and aircraft and we operate strict guidelines for the carriage of customers who are disruptive or appear to be under the influence of alcohol. Given that all our flights are short-haul, very little alcohol is actually sold on board, so it’s incumbent on the airports to introduce these preventative measures to curb excessive drinking and the problems it creates, rather than allowing passengers to drink to excess before their flights.”

[Photo: Shutterstock]