Michael O’Leary said his team will visit X’s Dublin office to give Elon Musk a free Ryanair ticket for helping the airline ‘boost’ ticket sales.
Ryanair CEO, in a press conference, opened up about his ongoing feud with Elon Musk. During which he shrugged off Musk’s threats to buy the airline and also reacted to the Startlink founder calling him an “idiot”. The boss of the low-cost and short-haul European airline wittily thanked Elon Musk for “boosting” Ryanair’s ticket sales.
Why doesn’t Ryanair want Starlink?
Praising Starlink, O’Leary said it is a “terrific” system that works very well. However, he goes on to explain that installing it in the aircraft means an extra cost, adding that their customers won’t be willing to pay for Wi-Fi on the plane during their short ride. He added that Ryanair users would only use Starlink if it were provided for free on board.
Also Read: Elon Musk vs Ryanair controversy: Billionaire conducts poll, asks X if he should buy airline
O’Leary thanks ‘Mr Musk’ for sales boost:
The Irish budget airline earlier took a cheeky jab at Musk, offering 100,000 seats at €16.99 (about £14.50) one-way for travel between February and April 2026.
During the conference, O’Leary said that his team will visit X’s office in Dublin to give Musk a free Ryanair ticket in thanks for the “wonderful boost” in publicity.
The Dublin executive shared that the airline has also seen a “2-3%” rise in bookings following the public feud between the two business leaders.
“Isn’t the first to call me an idiot”
Musk on X called O’Leary an “idiot” and also added other insults. Reacting to that, the airline boss said, “Elon Musk apparently took great umbrage and resorted to insulting me on X, calling me an idiot… I think yesterday he also rounded up and called me a retarded twat. I would say to Elon Musk that he would have to join the back of a very very very long queue of people who already think I’m a retarded twat, including my four teenage children.”
Why can’t Elon Musk buy Ryanair?
O’Leary told reporters in Dublin that non-European citizens can’t own a majority stake in a European airline. Born in South Africa, Elon Musk currently lives in America.
Also Read: Sam Altman slams Elon Musk over Tesla Autopilot deaths, Grok after the X owner bashes ChatGPT
However, the Ryanair CEO invited Musk to invest in the airline. “But if he wants to invest in Ryanair, we would think it’s a very good investment. Certainly a significantly better investment than the financial returns he’s earning on X.”
The article originally appeared on Hindustan Times
