Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary launched a “Great Idiots” seat sale on Tuesday — aimed toward Elon Musk and his supporters — after the Starlink boss targeted O’Leary for passing on a suggestion to put in the satellite-based web service on his fleet of business jets.
In an X post on Tuesday, the Dublin-based airline said it was selling 100,000 seats for €16.99 and encouraged people to purchase them “before Musk gets one.”
Their feud took off last week after the billionaire called O’Leary an “utter idiot” for brushing off the suggestion, in addition to a suggestion to buy the budget airline.
Musk suggested he might “put someone whose actual name is Ryan in charge,” and ran a poll on X to check the thought, by which three-quarters of respondents supported it.
O’Leary made light of Musk’s prodding, telling reporters at a Dublin press conference on Wednesday, “If he desires to call me an idiot, he wouldn’t be the primary, and he definitely won’t be the last … But when it helps to spice up Ryanair sales, you possibly can insult me all day, daily,” the BBC reported.
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He went on to call social media “a cesspit,” but conceded it was essential for Ryanair’s marketing.
O’Leary said installing Wi-Fi on his planes through Musk’s web service would cost an estimated $250 million a yr, including additional fuel costs, but that he would welcome an investment.
“Ryanair could be open to investment from the world’s richest person, but a takeover is not possible under European Union rules restricting foreign airline ownership,” he said.
Ryanair can be a publicly-owned company, but Musk “is free to purchase shares anytime,” O’Leary mused.
EU-based airlines must even be majority-owned by EU residents, Swiss residents, Norwegian residents, Icelandic residents or Liechtenstein residents, as ruled by the European Parliament.
FILE – Elon Musk attends the Saudi Investment Forum on the Kennedy Center, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025, in Washington.
Photo/Evan Vucci, File
“If he wants to speculate in Ryanair, we’d think it’s a superb investment,” O’Leary said, adding the returns could be higher than those from Musk’s social media platform X. “Mr. Musk is welcome to purchase shares, but he can’t take control,” he added.
O’Leary also confirmed that their public spat, which he called Musk’s “Twitter tantrum,” had led to a surge in seat bookings.
“They’re up about two per cent or three per cent within the last five days, which, given our volumes, is a really significant boost,” he said. He later told a reporter that bookings for January to March, the ultimate quarter of Ryanair’s financial yr, were strong.
O’Leary said he had been in talks with Starlink for a yr while considering onboard Wi-Fi, but decided it was too costly an investment.
He said Ryanair sought a provider willing to fund installation, and that the 2 sides sharply disagreed on how much passengers would use the service.
“The Starlink people imagine that nine per cent of our passengers would happily pay for Wi-Fi access. Our experience, sadly, tells us we expect lower than 10 per cent of our passengers would pay for this access,” he said, adding that Musk knows “zero” about flying.
— With files from Reuters
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