Michael O'Leary is known for picking fights with everyone from regulators, trade unions, competitors and even a fair number of his customers.

Yesterday the chief executive of Ryanair, the Irish budget airline, went still further by declaring war on what would appear to be an integral part of his industry: the suitcase.

Having spent years trying to price out competitors, Mr O'Leary said that he was trying to price luggage out of air travel. He said that he would increase baggage fees on Ryanair flights until the “absolute minimum” number of passengers decided to check in bags.

Ryanair, Europe's biggest airline, has become infamous over its £10 each-way fees for checking in bags.

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This year it has increased the anger of heavy packers by introducing a £30 fee for passengers who take on a carrier bag of duty-free goods or a small handbag as well as their 10kg (22lb) of hand luggage.

It has also introduced prohibitive fees for customers who choose to check in at the airport, rather than online, and the airline said last week that it was scrapping check-in desks altogether.

Mr O'Leary, asked yesterday whether Ryanair would reduce the baggage fee after the closure of check-in desks, said: “No. We will be putting it up - £10 to the next rounded figure. I assume we will go for £20 or £30.

“And we'll keep increasing it until we get to the absolute minimum [of passengers bringing hold baggage], probably 20per cent or 25per cent.”

Ryanair hopes to cut handling costs by 50 per cent and reduce its presence from about 50 check-in desks to between five or ten bag drops. “It's a completely redundant and valueless process,” Mr O'Leary said.

In his opinion, 10kg of luggage is easily sufficient for a two-week holiday. Consumer groups said many that many passengers would beg to differ, however, and would take their bulging suitcases elsewhere.

James Fremantle, industry affairs manager of the Air Transport Users' Council, said: “Obviously, baggage is important to passengers. It's a commercial business and you're not going to do something that drives passengers away. Passengers have a choice.”

Mr O'Leary said that Ryanair's abolition of check-in would mean that passengers would spend less time shopping in airports. “Overpriced retailers like Stansted have conspired with the airlines to get passengers to show up three hours early to spend money in their overpriced shops,” Mr O'Leary said.

This would leave customers more change to spend on Ryanair's £4.20 sandwiches and £2.50 cups of coffee. Which?, the consumer campaign group, said that Ryanair was the highest-priced airline for food and drink and that a hungry traveller could add 50 per cent to the price of a typical flight.

Food and drink are among the lucrative “ancillary charges” and extras that Ryanair and easyJet, its budget rival, have been using to boost profit. They represent about 22per cent of the Irish airline's revenue, about €132million (£117million).

Last week Ryanair introduced paid-for mobile phone use on its flights from Dublin. “So far, I have had no complaint from a passenger that the cathedral-like sanctity of a Ryanair flight was punctured by a phone call,” Mr O'Leary said.

He also threatened Thomas Cook with legal action over so-called screen-scraping websites, which access the Ryanair site remotely and take a cut of inflated ticket prices.

Mr O'Leary released correspondence that allegedly showed how a Thomas Cook company had overcharged a couple by £241.71.

A Thomas Cook spokesman said: “This is a regrettable situation and we apologise to the customer concerned. Customers are made aware of the breakdown of costs, including fuel supplements. We believe this is an isolated case due to a system error but we will be fully investigating this matter. Thomas Cook will be contacting the customer to offer a full refund.”

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