By Rosemary
Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary on Wednesday forcefully dismissed Elon Musk’s suggestion that he could buy Europe’s largest budget airline, brushing off both the idea of a takeover and a string of personal insults from the billionaire as a public feud between the two business leaders intensified.
The exchange, which has played out across radio interviews and social media, stems from Ryanair’s decision not to install Musk’s Starlink satellite internet system on its aircraft. O’Leary said the airline had concluded that the technology, while impressive, would impose unacceptable costs because of increased fuel consumption caused by external antennas mounted on aircraft fuselages.
The disagreement escalated after Musk accused O’Leary of being “misinformed” about Starlink’s performance. Speaking on Irish radio, O’Leary dismissed the criticism outright. “I would pay no attention whatsoever to Elon Musk,” he said. “He’s an idiot.”
Musk responded on his social media platform X with insults of his own, calling O’Leary an “utter idiot” and an “imbecile.” He went on to float the idea of acquiring the airline, jokingly asking his followers whether he should buy Ryanair and “put someone whose actual name is Ryan in charge.” In a poll posted alongside the remark, more than three-quarters of respondents voted in favor of the hypothetical purchase.
Speaking later to reporters in Dublin, where Ryanair is headquartered, O’Leary said Musk’s suggestion was legally unrealistic. European Union rules prevent non-European citizens from owning a controlling stake in a European airline. Musk, who was born in South Africa and is now a U.S. citizen, would therefore be barred from taking majority control.
That did not stop O’Leary from taking another jab. “If he wants to invest in Ryanair, we would think it’s a very good investment,” he said. “Certainly a significantly better investment than the financial returns he’s earning on X.”
Musk bought the platform formerly known as Twitter in 2022 for $44 billion, a deal that followed months of public disputes with company executives and has since been accompanied by advertiser pullbacks and controversy over content moderation.
O’Leary, a veteran airline executive known for his combative style and willingness to provoke critics, said he welcomed the attention generated by the spat. Ryanair capitalized on the publicity by launching a seat sale accompanied by promotional material featuring a caricature of Musk, leaning into the dispute as a marketing opportunity.
He also appeared unfazed by the personal insults. “All I would say to Elon Musk is he would have to join the back of a very, very, very, very long queue of people who have already insulted me,” O’Leary said, adding that the list includes “my four teenage children.”
Behind the rhetoric, O’Leary offered a detailed explanation of why Ryanair has so far declined to adopt Starlink. He said the airline has been in discussions with the satellite internet provider for about a year and praised the system’s technical capabilities.
“We like the Starlink system. It is a terrific system. It works very well,” he said. However, installing it across Ryanair’s fleet would come at a steep price. According to O’Leary, fitting each aircraft with two antennas would increase aerodynamic drag by about 2%, pushing the airline’s annual fuel bill up by roughly $200 million. Combined with installation and other associated costs, the total impact would approach $250 million a year.
Ryanair would also need to charge passengers for the service, a prospect O’Leary said makes little commercial sense for a carrier built around low fares and short flights. He estimated that fewer than 5% of passengers would be willing to pay extra for onboard internet on Ryanair routes, which average around one hour and 15 minutes.
The airline has not ruled out inflight connectivity altogether. O’Leary said Ryanair remains in discussions with other telecommunications providers, including Amazon, which is developing its own satellite network, Project Kuiper. Any deal, he emphasized, would have to reduce costs rather than add to them.
O’Leary also used the opportunity to criticize Musk’s broader business empire, pointing to recent controversy surrounding Grok, an artificial intelligence chatbot available through X that has been linked to the creation of nonconsensual deepfake images.
“Social media, X in particular, is a cesspit,” O’Leary said. “The most recent controversy with, you know, undressing children or undressing women is frankly offensive.”
For now, the clash shows no sign of cooling, with two outspoken executives trading barbs across platforms and continents. While a Ryanair takeover by Musk appears firmly in the realm of online provocation, the dispute has spotlighted the growing debate over inflight connectivity, airline costs, and the personalities shaping some of the world’s most visible companies.
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