Ryanair calls for curbs to alcohol sales at UK airports

The Irish no-frills airline wants airport bars and restaurants to check boarding passes and sell no more than two alcohol drinks per pass, in addition to stopping them selling any alcohol before 10:00am.

Ryanair said its intervention came “in the wake of increased disruptive behaviour from passengers travelling from British airports”.

According to figures compiled by the BBC, there were 387 arrests for drunken behaviour at British airports or during flights, in the year up to February 2017.

There were 255 in the previous year, according to the BBC’s data, drawn from 18 out of 20 police forces whose region has a major airport.

“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.

The airline has not outlined plans to limit the sale of alcohol on board its own flights, although it has imposed restrictions on pre-purchased alcohol on certain routes from Britain.

Ryanair passengers who pick up alcohol at Glasgow or Manchester airports before flying to the Spanish holiday destinations of Alicante or Ibiza are no longer allowed to bring the bottles on board.

Instead, their purchases have to be put in the hold.

Responding to the airport’s calls to toughen rules, British industry bodies said they had already introduced a code of conduct to prevent disruptive behaviour.

“Passengers should be aware that consequences of such behaviour could include losing a holiday because they are denied boarding through to fines, flight bans and prison sentences for the most serious offences,” said the joint statement by Airlines UK, the Airport Operators Association and the UK Travel Retail Forum.