Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary welcomes public feud with Elon Musk

By Jack Guy, CNN

(CNN) — Michael O’Leary, CEO of Europe’s biggest airline, Ryanair, says his ongoing feud with tech billionaire Elon Musk has boosted the budget carrier’s ticket sales.

“It is very good for our bookings,” O’Leary said at a news conference in Dublin on Wednesday, highlighting the fact that the company has been running a “Big Idiot Seat Sale” in recent days.

“We love these PR spats that drive bookings on Ryanair,” he said, adding that the airline would be offering Musk a free ticket.

The squabble began after the Ryanair (RYAAY) boss said on January 14 that he wouldn’t install Starlink satellite Wi-Fi technology, which is made by Musk’s firm SpaceX, on the airline’s planes, due to concerns over drag and an associated increase in fuel costs.

In a post on X the same day, Musk said O’Leary was “misinformed.”

“I doubt they can even measure the difference in fuel use accurately,” he added.

Musk also called O’Leary “an utter idiot” and a “retarded twat.”

On Friday, O’Leary, who is famously outspoken and known for his skill in harnessing publicity, fired back during an interview with Irish radio station Newstalk.

“I would pay no attention whatsoever to Elon Musk. He’s an idiot — very wealthy, but he’s still an idiot,” he said. “What Elon Musk knows about flights and drag would be zero.”

SpaceX, which Musk founded, is a rocket manufacturer and space transport services company.

CNN has contacted Ryanair and SpaceX for comment.

On Wednesday, O’Leary said he took “no insult” from Musk’s comments.

“As anybody with teenage children would know, you’re frequently called an idiot and a twat at home,” he said. “I don’t need to go outside to be insulted.”

O’Leary also provided further details behind the decision not to offer Starlink internet connectivity on Ryanair planes, as an increasing number of other airlines have started to do.

“It is a very good system,” said O’Leary. “The problem is if you put it on board aircraft, there is a cost.”

O’Leary estimates that it would cost Ryanair around $200-250 million a year in installation fees and increased running costs due to fuel drag caused by the two antennae that would have to be installed on the fuselage of each of the company’s 643 planes.

Ryanair would not be able to recover these costs by charging passengers to use the service, according to O’Leary.

Although Starlink claims that around 90% of passengers are willing to pay for internet access, the airline has found that less than 10% would do so, he said.

O’Leary also expressed his surprise that the decision had resulted in a feud, which has also seen Musk raise the possibility of buying Ryanair.

“Should I buy Ryan Air and put someone whose actual name is Ryan in charge?” he wrote on Friday.

“How much would it cost to buy you?” he wrote in another reply to the airline that day.

On Wednesday, O’Leary said that while non-European Union citizens cannot own a majority stake in European airlines, he would welcome Musk’s investment.

“We would think it’s a very good investment, certainly a significantly better investment than the financial returns he is earning on X,” he said.

“And we want to thank him sincerely for the additional publicity.”

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