Ryanair has said it will not stand for unruly passenger behaviour, as the number of incidents more than trebled in the past year, according to the Irish Aviation Authority.

Director of communications at Ryanair Jade Kirwan said this increase is due to airlines pursuing passengers who cause disruptions more.

“The numbers being a threefold, that is us coming together collectively as an industry to ensure that crew and other members of the industry are presenting to the IAA with those reports of disruptive passenger behaviour,” she told Newstalk Breakfast.

“So, we’re not letting anything slip through the cracks.

“I think Ryanair has been very clear on our zero-tolerance position towards just disruptive passenger behaviour.

“We aren’t going to stand for it, and the very small number of people that do misbehave on our flights will be held accountable and face consequences.”

Ms Kirwan listed travel, bans, fines or prosecution at the hands of local authorities as consequences that disruptive passengers could expect to face.

Passengers boarding a Ryanair aircraft for a flight from Dublin Airport, Ireland.

She also called for passenger's alcohol intake to be restricted by airports in order to reduce the number of incidents.

“Alcohol does play a big role; it’s a huge kind of factor in disruptive behaviour,” Ms Kirwan said.

“But again, [that’s] something that we think could be easily tackled at an airport level.

“You have passengers arriving to airports, excited to go on their holy-bops and all the rest of it.

“They’ll overindulge in the airport bars and then sometimes they’ll kick off in airports – but equally sometimes they’ll make it through to the fight and can cause disruption there as well.”

Ryanair baggage policy

When it comes to people raising complaints about the enforcement of Ryanair’s baggage policy, Ms Kirwan said “it’s a very simple solution”.

“Just show up to the gate with your correct baggage allowance,” she said.

“We’re trying to operate a very efficient low cost airline and to maintain that operational efficiency, we need compliance with our baggage rules.”

Main image: Passengers wait in the terminal at Dublin Aiport with a Ryanair flight outside. Image: Alamy