Over the past four weeks, the height of the summer travel season, Wetherspoons’ airport pubs derived only 33pc of sales from alcohol, Sir Tim said. A total 25pc of sales came from soft drinks, tea and coffee, with the remainder from food purchases.
Sir Tim said: “Coffee volumes, which include free refills, approximately match lager volumes at our airport pubs.”
Wetherspoons operates The Windmill pub at Stansted Airport, Ryanair’s biggest base, and also has three outlets at Gatwick and two at Heathrow, all but one of them located after passengers have cleared security checks.
Ryanair identified four airports – Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow and Edinburgh – as being particularly problematic for in-flight rowdiness. Wetherspoons only has a pub in Edinburgh, having closed several outlets during Covid.