Ryanair CEO thanks Elon Musk for ‘growth’ in sales after online spat
Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary has thanked billionaire Elon Musk for a “very significant” increase in bookings following an online dispute between the two companies.
Unbranded – Newsworthy
Few business leaders have publicly clashed with the White House or former adviser Elon Musk.
Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary does a little bit of both.
O’Leary traded insults very publicly with the world’s richest man last week after calling Donald Trump a “liar” and ridiculing the president’s foreign policy and economic tariffs in an interview with Politico.
The trouble began when Mr. O’Leary refused to install SpaceX’s Starlink on his low-cost airline’s Boeing planes to provide Wi-Fi to passengers.
He said the added weight of external antennas would consume more fuel. “I received incorrect information,” Musk said. O’Leary then called Musk an idiot.
Mr O’Leary, known for his provocative comments, told an Irish radio station this week: “He is the one who advocated for Donald Trump to win.” “I don’t pay any attention to Elon Musk.”
Mr Musk hit back, labeling Mr O’Leary a “total idiot” and a “moron”, and hinted that he might pursue a takeover of Ryanair. He even surveyed his followers on social media platform X about the idea. More than three-quarters said they should.
The war of words intensified on January 21 at a press conference convened by Mr O’Leary in Dublin, Ireland, where Ryanair is based.
Mr O’Leary dismissed Mr Musk’s threat to buy a low-cost airline and “put someone whose real name is Ryan in charge”, pointing out that European Union rules prohibit non-nationals from owning major shares in European airlines.
But Mr. O’Leary said he would be happy to take Mr. Musk’s money.
“If he wants to invest in Ryanair, we think it’s a very good investment,” O’Leary said, adding that the returns would be better than Musk’s X, according to Reuters. “I welcome Mr. Musk buying stocks, but he cannot take control.”
Mr O’Leary said Mr Musk’s “Twitter tantrum” had already had a positive impact on business, with Ryanair’s sales increasing.
Ryanair this week launched a “big idiot seat sale especially for Elon Musk and all the other idiots at X”, offering 100,000 seats for a one-way fare of €16.99.
So far, Musk has not responded. Starlink did not respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment.
Mr O’Leary said Ryanair had been negotiating with Starlink for about a year about implementing the Starlink system, which is used by other airlines including Qatar Airways, Canada’s WestJet Airways and Hawaiian Airlines.
“It’s a great system. It’s working very well,” he said, though he estimated it would cost his airline about $250 million a year. He also estimated that less than 5% of passengers on his company’s short-haul flights use Wi-Fi service. The airline is in talks with other providers.
