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Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary launched a “Nice Idiots” seat sale on Tuesday — geared toward Elon Musk and his supporters — after the Starlink boss focused O’Leary for passing on a suggestion to put in the satellite-based web service on his fleet of economic jets.
In an X publish on Tuesday, the Dublin-based airline stated it was promoting 100,000 seats for €16.99 and inspired folks to purchase them “earlier than Musk will get one.”
Their feud took off final week after the billionaire known as O’Leary an “utter fool” for disregarding the suggestion, in addition to a proposal to buy the price range airline.
Musk steered he would possibly “put somebody whose precise title is Ryan in cost,” and ran a ballot on X to check the thought, through which three-quarters of respondents supported it.
O’Leary made gentle of Musk’s prodding, telling reporters at a Dublin press convention on Wednesday, “If he needs to name me an fool, he wouldn’t be the primary, and he actually gained’t be the final … But when it helps to spice up Ryanair gross sales, you would insult me all day, daily,” the BBC reported.
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He went on to name social media “a cesspit,” however conceded it was vital for Ryanair’s advertising.
O’Leary stated putting in Wi-Fi on his planes by means of Musk’s web service would price an estimated $250 million a 12 months, together with extra gas prices, however that he would welcome an funding.
“Ryanair could be open to funding from the world’s richest individual, however a takeover is not possible beneath European Union guidelines proscribing international airline possession,” he stated.
Ryanair can also be a publicly-owned firm, however Musk “is free to purchase shares anytime,” O’Leary mused.
EU-based airways should even be majority-owned by EU residents, Swiss residents, Norwegian residents, Icelandic residents or Liechtenstein residents, as dominated by the European Parliament.
FILE – Elon Musk attends the Saudi Funding Discussion board on the Kennedy Middle, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025, in Washington.
Photograph/Evan Vucci, File
“If he needs to put money into Ryanair, we might suppose it’s an excellent funding,” O’Leary stated, including the returns could be higher than these from Musk’s social media platform X. “Mr. Musk is welcome to purchase shares, however he can’t take management,” he added.
O’Leary additionally confirmed that their public spat, which he known as Musk’s “Twitter tantrum,” had led to a surge in seat bookings.
“They’re up about two per cent or three per cent within the final 5 days, which, given our volumes, is a really important increase,” he stated. He later informed a reporter that bookings for January to March, the ultimate quarter of Ryanair’s monetary 12 months, have been robust.
O’Leary stated he had been in talks with Starlink for a 12 months whereas contemplating onboard Wi-Fi, however determined it was too expensive an funding.
He stated Ryanair sought a supplier keen to fund set up, and that the 2 sides sharply disagreed on how a lot passengers would use the service.
“The Starlink folks imagine that 9 per cent of our passengers would fortunately pay for Wi-Fi entry. Our expertise, sadly, tells us we predict lower than 10 per cent of our passengers would pay for this entry,” he stated, including that Musk is aware of “zero” about flying.
— With information from Reuters
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