The Ryanair vs Elon Musk spat intensified on Tuesday after the airline’s CEO, Michael O’Leary, issued a brutal response to the Tesla and Starlink boss. This comes after Musk, the richest person in the world, suggested that he would buy Ryanair and employ a ‘Ryan’ to run it.
Why Musk said he wants to buy Ryanair
The clash stems from Ryanair’s decision not to install SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet across its fleet of roughly 640 aircraft. O’Leary has argued that the antennas required for the service would increase drag and significantly raise fuel costs, estimating the impact at up to $250 million a year.
Musk, whose Starlink constellation now includes about 9,500 low-Earth-orbit satellites and serves around nine million customers, disputed that assessment.
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“He got the fuel impact calculation wrong by a factor of 10 and refuses to look either at physics-based calculations or measured fuel usage for 737s that fly Starlink. Fire this imbecile,” Musk wrote last week.
Speaking to Newstalk, an Irish radio station, O’Leary said: “What Elon Musk knows about flights and drag would be zero.”
He added: “We’ve already had Boeing confirm we have to put an aerial antenna on top of the aircraft; now, that will cost us about a 2pc fuel drag. Our fuel bill a year is five billion; it would cost us about $200, $250 million a year. In other words, about an extra dollar for every passenger we fly, and the reality for us is we can’t afford those costs.”
“I would pay no attention whatsoever to Elon Musk. He’s an idiot, very wealthy, but he’s still an idiot.”
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‘How much would Ryanair cost?’
Musk replied to a tweet from the airline, “How much would it cost to buy you?”
“I really want to put a Ryan in charge of Ryan Air. It is your destiny,” he added in a separate post.
Ryanair’s own social media team joined in, mocking Musk when X briefly went offline by posting: “Perhaps you need Wi-Fi @elonmusk,” and later dismissing in-flight internet as “propaganda.”
Musk vs Ryanair escalates
On Monday, Musk escalated matters further, floating the idea of acquiring the airline outright. He posed a poll to his 230 million followers asking: “Buy Ryan Air and restore Ryan as their rightful ruler”. Within hours, hundreds of thousands had voted, with roughly 80% backing the idea.
The billionaire further wrote: “Michael O’Leary is a retarded t— who needs to be fired. Put him out to pasture! Please make sure he sees this message.”
Ryanair responds
On Tuesday, Ryanair and its CEO issued a brutal response. The airline called the Tesla founder ‘a great idiot’.
“Ryanair CEO, Michael O’Leary, has called a press conference at 10:00 tomorrow (Wed, 21 Jan) in Dublin to address (undress??) Elon Musk’s latest Twitshit.
“Musk knows even less about airline ownership rules than he does about aircraft aerodynamics”, the press release further read.
“Perhaps Musk needs a break?? Ryanair is launching a Great Idiots seat sale especially for Elon and any other idiots on ‘X’. 100,000 seats for just €16.99 one-way. Buy now before Musk gets one!!!”