Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today (Wed, 13 Aug) welcomed the Edinburgh Sheriff Court’s decision to convict an unruly passenger who disrupted flight RK5593 from Edinburgh to Lanzarote on 5 July 2024 shortly after take-off by smoking, consuming his own alcohol, and verbally abusing other passengers onboard. This passenger was one of three disruptive passengers whose inexcusable behaviour forced this flight to turnback to Edinburgh, causing 6 crew and 178 passengers – many of whom were travelling on holiday with young family – to suffer unnecessary disruption.

The Edinburgh Sheriff Court issued this passenger with a Community Payback Order and sentenced him to 225 hours of community service.

Ryanair is committed to ensuring that all passengers and crew travel in a comfortable and stress-free environment free of unnecessary disruption caused by a tiny number of unruly passengers. Ryanair has a strict zero tolerance policy towards passenger misconduct and will continue to take action to combat unruly passenger behaviour on aircraft for the benefit of the vast majority of passengers who do not disrupt flights.

A Ryanair spokesperson said:

“We welcome the Community Payback Order of 225 hours community service issued to this passenger by the Edinburgh Sheriff Court, which demonstrates just one of the many consequences that passengers who disrupt flights will face as part of Ryanair’s zero tolerance policy, and we hope this action will further deter disruptive behaviour on flights so that passengers and crew can travel in a comfortable and respectful environment.”