Michael O'Leary getting a pie in the face earlier today in Brussels.

O'Leary gets pied in face by climate activists in Brussels

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Ryanair chief Michael O'Leary was hit in the face with two cream pies earlier today in Brussels.

Two climate activists pushed cream pies into the Mullingar native's face while he was preparing to deliver a petition to the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.

Mr O'Leary was staging a one-man protest outside the European Commission's headquarters in the Belgian capital to highlight the impact that air traffic controllers' strikes in the EU are having on Ryanair's services.

In a video of the incident, one of the activists can be heard saying "Welcome to Belgium" and she pushes a cream pie into Mr O'Leary's face, while a second said "stop the pollution".

O'Leary responded by saying “well done” and told journalists: “I love cream cakes, they're my favourite”, before explaining why he was staging the protest.

“We submitted the first petition about six months ago when we had only one million signatories, we now have 1.5 million signatories who have now signed our petition calling on von der Leyen and the European Commission to take action to protect overflights during the strikes.”

Never one to waste a promotional opportunity, Ryanair posted on social media shortly after the incident: “Warm welcome in Brussels today to celebrate RYR’s 7 new routes for Winter 23. Passengers so happy with our routes and petition that they’re celebrating with cake. We’ve got tasty low fares!”

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