Why is Musk feuding with Ryanair boss? Here's what's behind the troll war. – USA Today
Few business leaders clash publicly with the White House or its erstwhile adviser, Elon Musk.
Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary is doing a little of both.
After calling Donald Trump a “liar” and deriding the president’s foreign policy and economic tariffs in an interview with Politico last week, O’Leary has engaged in a very public exchange of insults with the world’s richest man.
The trouble began when O’Leary ruled out installing SpaceX’s Starlink on his budget airline’s fleet of Boeing jets to provide passengers with Wi-Fi.
He said the extra weight from the external antennas would consume more fuel. Musk said he was “misinformed.” Then O’Leary called Musk an idiot.
“He was the guy who advocated getting Donald Trump elected,” O’Leary, known for his provocative comments, told an Irish radio station this week. “I would pay no attention whatsoever to Elon Musk.”
Musk fired back by labeling O’Leary an “utter idiot” and an “imbecile” and suggesting he might launch a takeover of Ryanair. He even polled his followers on the social media platform X about the idea. More than three-quarters said he should.
The war of words escalated Jan. 21 at a news conference convened by O’Leary in Dublin, where Ryanair is based.
O’Leary dismissed Musk’s threat to buy the discount airline and “put someone whose actual name is Ryan in charge,” noting European Union rules bar noncitizens from owning a major stake in a European airline.
But O’Leary said he would happily take Musk’s money.
“If he wants to invest in Ryanair, we would think it’s a very good investment,” O’Leary said, adding the returns would be better than those from Musk’s X, according to Reuters. “Mr. Musk is welcome to buy shares, but he can’t take control.”
Already, Musk’s “Twitter tantrum” has been good for business, giving Ryanair sales a sales bump, O’Leary said.
Ryanair this week launched a “Great idiot seat sale especially for Elon Musk and any other idiots on X,” offering 100,000 seats for 16.99 euros for one-way fares.
So far, Musk has not responded. Starlink did not respond to a USA TODAY request for comment.
O’Leary said Ryanair had been in negotiations with Starlink for about a year about installing the Starlink system, which is used by other airlines such as Qatar Airways, Canada’s WestJet and Hawaiian Airlines.
“It is a terrific system. It works very well,” he said, but estimated that it would set his airline back about $250 million a year. He also estimated that less than 5% of passengers on his airline’s short-haul flights would pony up for the Wi-Fi service. The airline is in discussions with other providers.
