Ryanair bans passengers for smoking

EIGHT people have been banned for life from all Ryanair flights for compromising passenger and crew safety by smoking on board.

The low-fares airline said it does not tolerate smoking on any of its flights and that anyone found lighting up on an aircraft would never fly with the company again.

The eight people are believed to have been on different flights over the last 12 months, and Ryanair would not reveal where they were from, their ages or sex. In all the cases, as soon as the plane landed, the smoker was handed over to the local police to face whatever sanctions that particular country employed. They could face charges relating to plane, crew and passenger safety.

The longest Ryanair journey is two-and-a-half hours, while the average flight time is one hour.

Ryanair's head of communications Paul Fitzsimmons said passenger and crew safety is the company's number one priority and smoking during a flight compromises the safety of everyone on board an aircraft.

"There remains a tiny minority of passengers who stupidly and recklessly persist in endangering the safety of others by smoking on board. You are in a pressurised cabin, six miles in the air and people still think it is OK to start sparking up. It is unbelievable really.

"Some people think they are above the law. They are not and Ryanair will immediately ban anyone found smoking on board any flight and pass the offenders over to the police for prosecution," Mr Fitzsimmons said.

While he said the company would try to ensure these eight people would never fly with Ryanair again, he accepted that there were ways around the ban. "There are ways around it, but we are putting out the message that if you smoke on our aircraft you will be banned," he said.

Aer Lingus said all its flights are non-smoking and that its crew are highly trained in safety and security issues, which includes ensuring the no-smoking policy is adhered to.

The State airline would not say what sanctions a smoker faced, only that "the captain has the ultimate authority on a flight and would decide on the appropriate action in each situation".

The spokesperson could not say how many passengers if any had been banned from travelling on the airline and if a passenger would face a ban for smoking on an aircraft.

The Irish Aviation Authority said there is no global ban on smoking in aircraft and that each airline decides its own policy on the issue and sanctions.