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Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary thanked Elon Musk for the extra publicity their online row has brought to his airline, saying sales had increased by 2% to 3% in the past five days.
After O’Leary rejected the idea of ​​using Musk’s Starlink technology to provide WiFi on flights, Musk suggested he could buy the budget airline, calling O’Leary “intolerable” and an “idiot.”
At a press conference on Wednesday, O’Leary said he “will not accept Musk’s ridicule” and that he is regularly insulted by his four teenage children and many others at home.
He also said that Musk is “free” to invest in Ryanair shares but cannot own a majority stake in a European airline under EU law.
Musk is the world’s richest man, with a net worth estimated at $769bn (£573bn), and O’Leary runs Europe’s busiest airline. Both men are known to attract media attention with strong language and provocative remarks.
O’Leary told a news conference that his team would travel to X’s offices in Dublin to give Musk a free Ryanair ticket as a thank you for the “huge boost” in publicity.
“If he wants to call me an idiot, he won’t be the first and certainly won’t be the last… but if it helps boost Ryanair sales you can insult me ​​all day long, every day.”
The feud between the pair intensified after O’Leary called Musk an “idiot” and said it was not cost-effective to use Starlink to provide free Wi-Fi to Ryanair passengers.
O’Leary added that Starlink would cost €250 (£218m) to install all the necessary equipment and would add €100m (£87m) in annual fuel costs.
He said he believed only 5% of Ryanair’s passengers were willing to pay for WiFi, so the return on investment would be low.
Speaking about the prospect of Musk acquiring Aer Lingus, O’Leary said: “We are a public company. He is free (to buy shares) at any time, but non-European citizens cannot own a majority stake in a European airline.”
“If he wanted to invest in Ryanair, we would consider it a very good investment.”
O’Leary called all social media a “cesspool” but admitted it was important to Ryanair’s marketing.
The company is known for its irreverent approach on social media, often mocking customers who complain about the airline’s cost-cutting measures.
O’Leary said he has no direct contact with Elon Musk.
Musk has repeatedly floated the idea of ​​acquiring Ryanair on X over the past week, but the EU airline would have to be majority-owned by people from the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein.
Last week, after Lufthansa announced it would install Starlink on its planes to provide free Wi-Fi to all passengers, O’Leary said Musk had “zero knowledge” of flight aerodynamics.
