Low-cost European airline Ryanair has just announced its latest revenue boosting scheme. It will now go against all the rules in the airline book sby allowing passengers to puff on a cigarette in the aircraft cabin. Smoking was phased out across all passenger aircraft during the nineties, and now Ryanair has chosen to bring the practice back. However, there is of course a monetary catch. Passengers will not actually be allowed to bring on board and light up their favourite brand during flights, but will be given the opportunity to buy a packet of smoke-free cigarettes from airline stewards and stewardesses during the flight.

The new brand of smokeless cigarettes will be sold by the airline for €6.00 a pack. A press release from Ryanair says that unlike real cigarettes the smokeless variety do not contain any harmful chemicals or toxins. They are harmless both to those puffing away on them and also those sitting near the ‘smoke-free’ smoker. The cigarettes have the look of the real thing and will provide the requisite hit of nicotine to the user.

Ryanair have not given any detailed reasons as to why they have decided to start supplying the own-brand smokeless cigarettes. All they have said is that in a survey recently conducted, Ryanair found that 24,000 of their passengers declared that they would like the opportunity to light up whilst on a flight.

Ryanair seems to be concerned that it would like to give passengers the opportunity not to have to worry about when they are going to get their next nicotine hit, but at €6.00 per pack many are wondering if this is just the latest in a long line of schemes by the budget airline to tap into more and more bizarre revenue streams.