Elon Musk has floated the prospect of buying Ryanair in the latest escalation of a public war of words with the airline’s outspoken CEO Michael O’Leary.
The exchange follows a disagreement over whether Europe’s largest budget airline should install Musk’s Starlink satellite internet system on its fleet of more than 650 planes. O’Leary has repeatedly rejected the idea, arguing that the required antennas and hardware would add unnecessary weight and drag, increasing fuel consumption and operating costs.
The row got personal last week when O’Leary branded Musk “an idiot.” Musk responded kindly and called the Ryanair boss “a complete idiot.”
Now Musk has added another twist. In his post on
The post was viewed more than 30 million times, but there was no indication in the market that investors were taking the idea seriously. Ryanair, which has a market value of around $30 billion, saw its shares briefly rise in early trading on Tuesday before slipping back to 28.83 euros on Euronext, largely unchanged on the day and lower than a week earlier.
There was no immediate reaction from Ryanair to Musk’s comments. O’Leary, 64, is a well-known critic of social media and has previously described X as a “cesspool”. Musk, 54, is one of the platform’s most prolific users.
The original disagreement began when O’Leary was asked whether Ryanair would follow rivals such as Lufthansa and British Airways in introducing Starlink for in-flight connectivity.
O’Leary said he had no intention of doing so, claiming the installation would add $250 million in costs to the airline’s entire fleet. While passengers could use the internet on board if it were free, they would not be willing to pay even a euro for the service, he argued.
Musk responded that O’Leary was “misinformed” about the impact of Starlink hardware on aircraft performance. O’Leary responded that Musk’s knowledge of running an airline was “zero.”
While the stock market has provided plenty of entertainment for observers, the muted share price reaction suggests that markets view Musk’s takeover bid as little more than another provocation in a high-profile clash between two of business’s most combative figures.
