Daa chief Kenny Jacobs has ruled out any prospect of passengers being limited to two alcoholic drinks while travelling through Dublin Airport and/or Cork Airport.
Mr Jacobs was speaking at the publication of Daa’s 2024 review earlier this week. Daa is the operator of both Dublin and Cork airports.
The question of drink limits being imposed by airports has been raised by Ryanair Group CEO Michael O’Leary on numerous occasions – most recently earlier this week – as a possible mechanism to be used to avoid drunk, and potentially disruptive, passengers ruining flights.
Mr O’Leary wants a two-drink limit imposed on passengers within airport terminals before boarding flights, adding that airlines – including Ryanair – have similar onboard restrictions in place.
Ryanair is currently seeking €15,000 in damages against an unruly passenger who disrupted one of its flights from Dublin to Lanzarote last year, with the flight having to be diverted to Porto and the incident resulting in Ryanair incurring significant unexpected overnight costs covering crew and passengers.
Mr Jacobs, however, said most instances of people being stopped for over-indulging at either Dublin or Cork airports happen at the check-in area before they continue through security or get anywhere near the gate.
Mr Jacobs said he agreed with the need to control drinking in airports, but said it currently isn’t an issue of concern at Irish airports and is more of an issue at mainland European airports, as the cost of alcohol there is lower.
