The airline chief laughed - and sarcastically remarked "well done" - after two women splattered him outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels on Thursday lunchtime.

Video footage showed that the first woman approached Mr O'Leary - and then said "welcome [to] Belgium" before she smeared the dessert in his face.

She then shouted: "stop the pollution of the f****** planes" as a second woman threw another pie in his face.

The pair then walked off.

It came as Mr O'Leary, who was uninjured, was preparing to hold a press conference and hand in a petition to commission president Ursula von der Leyen.

Read more from business:
Offshore wind power warning as government auction flops
Competition watchdog launches probe into £2bn vet industry

He tried to laugh off the incident afterwards, telling reporters: "I love cream cakes, they are my favourite."

The airline boss later added: "Delicious cake, is there any more?"

Mr O'Leary said more than 1.5 million people had signed his petition, which calls for flights over Europe to be better protected from air traffic control strikes.

It comes following disruption to flights earlier this summer due to industrial action in France, which forced the airline to cancel 900 journeys in June.

Ryanair later uploaded a photo of the incident on X, formerly known as Twitter, and said: "Shame it was soy-based cream, definitely not as tasty as the real stuff."