RYANAIR BOSS Michael O’Leary was in flying form at a press conference in Dublin yesterday.

When asked if his proposal to charge passengers for spending a penny might fall foul of some regulator or other, O’Leary had an interesting response.

“If they tell us we can’t charge them to use the toilet, then we’ll charge them to get out,” he said, tongue firmly in cheek. “They’ll have to put a quid in the slot to get out. Simple.”

What if passengers were to soil their seats rather than pay the charge.

“Then we’ll charge them [a soiling fee],” he said, without a hint of irony.

O’Leary reckons he could make about €15 million a year if around 20 per cent of his passengers are caught short on flights.

“I think eventually it’s going to happen but there just needs to be a mechanism,” he said, adding that Boeing is working on this.

“We’ve been at the cutting edge of these things for years.”

It remains to be seen if O’Leary is yanking our collective chains by floating this idea, but it has spawned all sorts of witty ideas on the internet as to how Ryanair might make an extra buck from its flights.

Like having to insert a £1 coin to release your oxygen mask in the event of cabin pressure dropping. Or having to pay a “disembarkation fee” in the event of an emergency landing.

These would obviously be a step too far, even for Ryanair.

But it again shows that when it comes to generating free publicity, none fly close to Michael O’Leary.