Tim Martin said it had “never been suggested” that the chain’s customers cause disruption on flights.
He was speaking after Ryanair chief Michael O’Leary said airport bars should be banned from serving alcohol before early morning flights and a two-drink limit be imposed at other times.
Mr Martin told The Times: “A two-drink limit would be extraordinarily difficult to implement, short of breathalysing passengers, and would, in our opinion, be an over-reaction, especially since many of the problems stem from incoming flights. It is in everyone’s interests to have good behaviour at airports and on flights.”
A spokesperson for JD Wetherspoon told the newspaper that pubs in airports were “highly supervised”, with strict policies preventing excessive alcohol consumption.
Earlier this week, Mr O’Leary said Ryanair was being forced to divert an average of nearly one flight a day because of bad behaviour on board, up from one a week a decade ago.
Michael O’Leary wants a two-drink limit at airports. Photo: PA
In an interview with The Times, Mr O’Leary said: “It’s becoming a real challenge for all airlines.
“I fail to understand why anybody in airport bars is serving people at five or six o’clock in the morning. Who needs to be drinking beer at that time?
“There should be no alcohol served at airports outside licensing hours.”
He added that Ryanair rarely serves more than two drinks to a passenger and called for a two-drink limit to be introduced at airports.
JD Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin. Photo: PA
Today’s News in 90 Seconds – May 7th
He added that Ryanair rarely serves more than two drinks to a passenger and called for a two-drink limit to be introduced at airports.
He said: “We are reasonably responsible, but the ones who are not responsible, the ones who are profiteering off it, are the airports who have these bars open at five or six o’clock in the morning and, during delays, are quite happy to send these people as much alcohol as they want because they know they’re going to export the problem to the airlines.”
Yesterday, Ryanair welcomed the decision by a court in France that found two passengers guilty of causing disruption on a flight from London Stansted to Ibiza that was diverted to Toulouse last May.
The pair received a combined penalty of more than €10,000 and suspended prison sentences of up to 10 months, the airline said.
In January last year, Ryanair announced it had started taking legal action to recover losses against disruptive passengers when they force a flight to be diverted.
It said it filed legal proceedings against a passenger in Ireland to seek €15,000 in damages related to a flight from Dublin to Lanzarote.