Gordon Deegan
Ryanair yesterday called for a pre-10am booze ban at airports after a group of drunken Irish based holiday-makers forced an Ibiza bound flight Ryanair flight from Dublin to divert to Paris on Saturday morning.
A group of up to 20 holiday makers were involved in the unruly drink fuelled disturbance and three passengers were removed and detained by French police on arrival at Paris Beauvais on Saturday morning.
The captain of the return flight from the party island to Dublin on Saturday afternoon - which was delayed by 2hrs 40 minutes as a result of the disturbance - apologised for the delay and explained that the outward flight had to divert due to up to 20 passengers being involved in the disturbance.
The captain said that there were children on board the flight and that the flight was diverted for safety concerns of all of the passengers on board.
The captain said that the unruly passengers had been drinking at the terminal at Dublin airport prior to take-off.
The Ibiza bound flight's scheduled take-off was 8.50am on Saturday and Ryanair spokesman, Robin Kiely confirmed the incident yesterday. He said: “This flight from Dublin to Ibiza diverted to Paris Beauvais after three passengers became disruptive inflight.”
He said: “The aircraft landed normally and the passengers were removed and detained by police upon arrival, before the aircraft continued to Ibiza."
Mr Kiely said: "We will not tolerate unruly or disruptive behaviour at any time and the safety and comfort of our customers, crew and aircraft is our number one priority."
Mr Kiely was not able to comment on the costs to Ryanair of the diversion or the legal fate of the three passengers who were taken off the plane.
He said: “This is now a matter for local police.”
Mr Kiely said that the incident “is exactly why we are calling for significant changes to prohibit the sale of alcohol at airports, such as a two-drink limit per passenger and no alcohol sales before 10am”.
He said: “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.”
