He says air rage incidents are at record levels this summer.
O’Leary partly blames the sheer volume of flight delays giving passengers more time to down alcohol, allied to the frustration of long waits in airport lounges.
He has called for a crackdown on airport drinking with a two-drink maximum per boarding pass at airports.
“We are seeing record numbers. We and most of the airlines around Europe are seeing a spike upwards, particularly this summer, of disgruntled passengers on board,” he said.
“I think the real challenge is: flight delays are up at a record high this summer, so people are spending time in airports drinking before they board aircraft.”
“Passengers fighting with each other is a growing trend on board aircraft. That’s the biggest challenge our crews are dealing with at the moment.”
“We were probably dealing with at least one bad case of assault on a weekly basis now.”
O’Leary cited flights from Liverpool and Glasgow to Ibiza as particularly problematic.
“On any of our Ibiza flights we won’t allow anybody on board with any bottles at all – we search their bags at the boarding gate,” he said.
Passengers can face a maximum fine of £5,000 and two years in prison for acts of drunkenness on an aircraft.
If an incident also endangers the safety of an aircraft, the sentence can be up to five years behind bars.
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