Last week, the head of budget airline Ryanair traded insults with Elon Musk. The dispute began after Ryanair’s CEO, Michael O’Leary, rejected the idea of installing Starlink internet on Ryanair planes, claiming it wouldn’t be cost-effective. Starlink is one of Musk’s companies. Musk took to X, which he owns, to say that O’Leary’s opinion was misinformed. Both businessmen are known for their provocative language, and both called each other idiots.
The airline mocked the billionaire after a social media platform outage last week. Musk, meanwhile, floated the idea of buying Ryanair with a poll on X and even said he would put a “Ryan in charge.”
The low-cost carrier also ran a “big idiot sale” promotion to capitalize on the feud, and the aviation boss thanked Musk for a boost in ticket sales.
Although Musk has delivered on his threats earlier with X, Ryanair is a European airline. Under E.U. regulations, airlines can be owned only by citizens of the E.U., Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, or Liechtenstein. O’Leary invited the Tesla boss to invest in the company, but he cannot own it.
