![\"Ryanair](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/286b698d-4d97-4181-812e-b88f7e6a34b5.jpg\")
<\/p>\nHe has insisted the plan is unworkable.<\/p>\n
Mr O\u2019Leary said Ryanair already allows half the passengers, who have priority boarding, to bring a second free carry-on bag.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s about as much capacity as the aircraft has,\u201d he added, describing MEPs pushing for the new rules to be introduced as a \u201cbunch of clowns\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have politely pointed out to them that there isn\u2019t room on board the aircraft for two free bags for 189 passengers. That does seem to be a detail that they\u2019ve missed,\u201d he claimed.<\/p>\n
The airline chief insisted that allowing passengers to bring two free bags on board would result in \u201chuge queues\u201d at airports as passengers make their way through security checks with more baggage.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would also mean inevitable flight delays because bags that don\u2019t fit in the aircraft would have to be taken away at the gate and put in the hold of the aircraft,\u201d according to Mr O\u2019Leary. \u201cYou\u2019d have more aircraft missing their slots and you would just gum up the whole system.\u201d<\/p>\n
The European Union parliament\u2019s Transport and Tourism Committee has said that it will push to retain and add to passenger rights as potential changes to the current passenger rights, including delayed flight compensation rules, are negotiated.<\/p>\n
MEPs who are members of the committee have insisted that passengers should have the right to take one personal item such as a laptop or handbag on board their flight for free, as long as it fits under the seat in front.<\/p>\n
They also want passengers to be permitted to take on board a small piece of hand luggage weighing no more than 7kg, for free.<\/p>\n
Many airlines charge passengers for their cabin baggage.<\/p>\n
Mr O\u2019Leary also criticised European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen for what he said was her failure to decisively act on a report prepared more than a year ago by former European Central Bank boss Mario Draghi. That competitiveness report urged a transformation of the EU\u2019s aviation sector.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary. Photo: Getty <\/p>\n
Today’s News in 90 Seconds – Monday November 3 <\/p>\n
Mr O\u2019Leary has repeatedly called for Ms Von der Leyen to either act or step down.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would like to say we should get an Irish politician in there given it was Peter Sutherland who originally deregulated air travel, but given the lack of action from the Irish politicians on the mad Dublin Airport cap, I wouldn\u2019t be recommending any of our Irish politicians either,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He was speaking as Ryanair delivered a strong set of second-quarter results.<\/p>\n
Its profit after tax in the three months to the end of September jumped 20pc to \u20ac1.72bn as revenue rose 8pc to \u20ac5.48bn.<\/p>\n
For the first half of its financial year, profit after tax was 42pc higher, at \u20ac2.54bn. Ryanair\u2019s passenger numbers were up 3pc at 119 million in the period, while its average fare rose 13pc as it benefited from a strong Easter, fare recovery and weak prior year comparatives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He has insisted the plan is unworkable. Mr O\u2019Leary said Ryanair already allows half the passengers, who have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161911,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[79,18,19,17,24512,1843,623],"class_list":{"0":"post-161910","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-john-mulligan","13":"tag-michael-oleary","14":"tag-ryanair"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115490229276475121","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}