Mr O’Leary said that the new regulations mean an airline must include a second carry-on bag in its advertised airfare.
The European Parliament this month upgraded air passengers’ rights.
A statement shared by the European Parliament on July 7, reads: “The new rules now include the right to carry on board, without extra cost, one personal item, such as a small bag or backpack.
“To improve price transparency and comparability, MEPs insisted on obliging airlines, intermediaries and search portals to always display the air fare inclusive of carry-on luggage at the outset of the booking process.
“Airlines may offer cheaper tickets for passengers who decide to travel without hand luggage.”
O’Leary said: “Overnight, you’ll make European airlines look even less competitive than they are today.
“Our lowest fare today say is 19.99, 60 quid if you want to bring a carry-on bag.
“The lowest we’ll be able to advertise going forward in 18 months’ time when these stupid regulations come in, we’ll have a low fare seat sale ‘79.99’, but with a big strapline beneath it, ‘You can reduce this by another 60 quid if you don’t bring the second carry-on bag’.”
He said that the point all European airlines have made is that there is not enough space onboard their aircrafts for two bags per passenger.
Mr O’Leary added that less than half of Ryanair’s passengers can bring a second bag and this is managed by selling priority boarding tickets, which is closed off at 45% of the plane.
Most passengers want the lowest airfare, he said, “and of course for the morons in the European Parliament, they don’t care what people want.”
He said that 99.99% of passengers want to know what the lowest airfare is.
“If the lowest airfare excludes a second carry-on bag, they’re quite happy to travel without a second carry-on bag and they do so daily in their millions.”
This story originally appeared on Express.co.uk
