Budget airline Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary called for the profiling of "males of a Muslim persuasion" at airports to prevent terrorism, in an interview on Saturday with British newspaper The Times.
"That is where the threat is coming from," he said.
He suggested that checks on families should be less stringent while Muslim men flying alone should be targeted by airport security.
"Who are the bombers? They are going to be single males traveling on their own," the Irishman said in Saturday's interview.
"If you are traveling with a family of kids, on you go; the chances you are going to blow them all up is zero," he added.
"You can't say stuff, because it's racism, but it will generally be males of a Muslim persuasion. Thirty years ago it was the Irish," O'Leary said.
British politician Khalid Mahmood from the opposition Labour party condemned O'Leary's words, saying he was "encouraging racism."
"In Germany this week a white person killed eight people. Should we profile white people to see if they're being fascists?" Mahmood told The Times.
The Ryanair boss, an airline that operates mainly in Europe, has previously caused controversy by suggesting that passengers should have to pay to use the toilet on his flights and that he may charge a "fat tax" on obese people.
