Ryanair’s chief executive Michael O’Leary has warned of increasing drug use by airline passengers, who, he says, appear to get away with it without facing serious consequences.

The boss of Europe’s most popular airline said passengers were increasingly mixing alcohol and illicit substances before boarding planes, leading to “unacceptable behaviour”.

Calling drug use an “increasing societal problem”, O’Leary said that, while passengers who drank too much might simply fall asleep, some were now adding drugs into the mix, becoming “much more energised or aggressive”.

He stressed that, though cabin crew were well trained and could deal with most situations, drug use had caused some passengers to get “out of control”, requiring planes to divert to the nearest airport to “offload” them.

Passengers who were taken off planes under such circumstances “don’t face any significant consequences”, however, with local police often not wanting to deal with them, O’Leary complained.

Calling excessive alcohol consumption “a real problem for us and for other airlines”, O’Leary reiterated his call for European airports to impose a two-drink limit on passengers while questioning why alcohol was allowed to be sold in the early hours of the morning.

The Ryanair boss was speaking to Times of Malta following a press conference announcing Ryanair’s summer schedule, which sees its flight routes from Malta expanded.

Asked for his assessment of new Maltese national carrier KM Malta Airlines, which took to the skies in March last year, O’Leary said it “seemed to be operating fine”, although questioning its long-term feasibility.

“There’s no evidence that state-run airlines model works,” he said, pointing to Irish carrier Aer Lingus becoming a subsidiary of International Airlines Group (IAG) – tipped to take over TAP Portugal – and Air France merging with Dutch company KLM to take a stake in Scandinavian Airlines (SAS).

'KM Malta Airlines can’t work as an independent airline'

“They [KM Malta Airlines] can’t work as an independent airline. Ultimately, I think it belongs in one of the bigger international groups... because it’s too small to survive,” he said.

With around a third of Malta’s national carrier set to be sold to the private sector – and ideally to a company in the aviation sector – is Ryanair interested?

“I don’t think that would be allowed; it would mean we would have a quasi-monopoly on Malta. I think the finance minister was looking to encourage Air France, KLM, Lufthansa or IAG to take a stake in KM, and we would encourage that.”

Airport security

Asked about security at MIA following two flight runaways escaping into Malta after jumping down from a plane on the apron last month, O’Leary appeared to brush off concerns, saying he did not think it was an issue.

“There will always be incidents... but, in the context of total traffic at Malta over a full year being close to 10 million passengers, does that ultimately bring into question security at Malta airport? No, it doesn’t,” he said.

“In fact, if anything, it shows how good the security really is.”

Turning to aviation tax across Europe, a topic the airline boss has long been an outspoken critic of, O’Leary questioned why long-haul flights were exempt, arguing they accounted for more than half of aviation emissions on the continent.

“The only people we tax are European citizens and the people we exempt are the richest Americans, Gulf princes and Russians and Asians flying to Europe,” he said.

O’Leary called for aviation taxes to be scrapped and for more government investment in new technologies rather than “treating aviation as if it’s some kind of cash cow for lazy governments”.

Slamming the EU as “incredibly inefficient and uncompetitive”, the Ryanair boss claimed that taxing aviation “has no impact on the environment whatsoever”.

Aircraft safety

Describing US aircraft maker Boeing as “very frustrating to deal with”, O’Leary said industrial action at the company had forced Ryanair to “walk back our growth” after less planes were delivered than originally promised.

But strikes are not Boeing’s only problem; the firm has faced increased scrutiny in recent years over safety concerns. In January last year, a panel blew out from a brand new 737 Max shortly after take-off, exposing the cabin.

While acknowledging the manufacturer’s track record on safety was “worrying”, O’Leary said the quality of the company’s planes had “significantly improved”, with Maltese passengers not needing to worry.

“The only concern for Maltese flyers is how to get the next cheap Ryanair seat,” he said.