In a dramatic turn of events, Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has publicly expressed interest in acquiring Europe’s largest airline, Ryanair. This comes after a heated exchange between Musk and Ryanair’s outspoken chief executive, Michael O’Leary.
The conflict began last week when O’Leary was asked whether Ryanair would follow the lead of Lufthansa and British Airways in installing Musk’s Starlink satellite internet technology on its fleet of 650 aircraft. The Ryanair CEO rejected the idea, citing concerns over a “2% fuel drag” that would add an estimated £149-223 million to the airline’s annual £5 billion fuel bill.
Musk quickly responded, labelling O’Leary’s interpretation as “misinformed” in a post on his X platform, formerly known as Twitter. This prompted a war of words, with both men hurling insults and calling each other “idiots.”
Undeterred, Musk then took to X on Friday to ask his followers whether he should “buy Ryanair and put someone whose actual name is Ryan in charge.” He followed up with a poll asking if he should “Buy Ryanair and restore Ryan as their rightful ruler,” with over three-quarters of the nearly 900,000 respondents saying yes.
Ryanair’s official X account joined in the mockery, posting in response to a recent X outage across the US: “Perhaps you need Wi-Fi, @elonmusk?”
Musk’s interest in acquiring Ryanair may not be mere idle talk, as the billionaire has a history of following through on such social media declarations. In 2017, he famously replied to a journalist’s suggestion that he should buy Twitter with the question “How much is it?” He later acquired the platform in a $44 billion deal and renamed it X.
However, any potential acquisition of Ryanair by Musk would face significant regulatory hurdles. Under EU rules, airlines based in the bloc must be majority-owned by EU nationals or citizens of Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, or Liechtenstein.
O’Leary, 64, has also dismissed Musk’s comments, telling an Irish news outlet that he would “pay no attention whatsoever to Elon Musk” and that the Tesla CEO “knows zero about flights and drag.” The Ryanair boss also said he was “thankfully” too old to have any social media accounts.
As the war of words continues, it remains to be seen whether Musk’s bold idea will come to fruition or if it will simply be another chapter in the ongoing feud between the two outspoken business leaders.
