Sir, - In the light of yet another reported air rage incident said to have involved the drug alcohol (The Irish Times, August 7th), is it not time to ban the sale and consumption of alcohol on all airline flights?
The airline industry appears to pay lip-service to the safety of passengers. Smoking was banned - not purely on health grounds, I suspect, but for commercial reasons, i.e. to save on expensive air conditioning - but airlines are very unlikely to give up a lucrative and sometimes exorbitant practice of peddling alcohol to all and sundry on flights, short and long. Whether or not the alcohol is sold or "free" (incorporated into higher ticket prices), the fact remains that sooner rather than later the price of safety will be too high! - Yours, etc.,
Rowland Reece, Brookwood Avenue, Dublin 5.