Why is Ryanair fighting Elon Musk? | money news
Elon Musk has said he may buy Ryanair amid his ongoing public dispute with the budget airline’s boss Michael O’Leary.
There have been several clashes between the two in the last few days, resulting in Mr. musk Asking his X followers if they should buy Ryanair and “reinstate Ryanair as their rightful ruler”.
Ryanair In response it announced a “Big Idiot Seat Sale”,
which it says is for the billionaire tech mogul and any other “idiots” on Mr Musk’s social media platforms.
Here’s everything you need to know about why the two outspoken CEOs are trading insults, from what was said to why it started.
What is the controversy about?
The dispute appears to have arisen from Mr O’Leary’s refusal to equip Ryanair jets with Mr Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service after rival Lufthansa and Scandinavian airline SAS announced a deal to install Starlink on their aircraft.
In an interview with Irish radio station Newstalk on 16 January, Mr O’Leary said he would not install the technology because he believed passengers on Ryanair’s short-haul flights “would not be willing to pay” to use it.
He said that using the technology would cost the company about €200–250m per year and would increase their fuel bills by 1–2% due to the two aerials required on each flight, which would affect the aircraft’s aerodynamics.
He told the radio station that he would “not pay any attention” to Mr Musk, and branded him an “idiot”.
He said, “Musk knows much less about airline ownership rules than he does about aircraft aerodynamics.”
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What has happened since then?
The Ryanair
Not surprisingly, Mr Musk has not ignored the temptation to respond.
He has branded Mr O’Leary a “complete idiot”, a “chimp”, called for him to be sacked and said “he doesn’t know how to fly aeroplanes”.
At a press conference on January 21, in which he said he would address Mr Musk’s “Twitter tantrum”, Mr O’Leary quipped that he was not insulted by the comments.
Speaking to Sky News’ Ireland correspondent stephen murphy He quipped: “I think I probably agree with them. I have four teenage children who regularly call me an idiot and an insufferable chimp.”
Is ‘Big Idiot Sale’ real?
Using the logic of boosting their sales at the beginning of the year, Ryanair launched the “Great Idiot’s Seat Sale”, essentially selling 100,000 one-way tickets at £16.99 for flights from January to April.
Ryanair’s website and X page have both been changed to reflect the promotion, which includes an AI-generated image of Mr O’Leary and Mr Musk.
Michael O’Leary is promoting Ryanair’s latest sale. Photo: Reuters
Could Musk really buy Ryanair?
While the world’s richest man’s social media posts have been widely taken as provocative rather than serious, Mr Musk’s acquisition of X, formerly Twitter, began with a surprise offer to buy it after building up a stake.
After asking his 232 million X followers whether they should buy Ryanair and replace Mr O’Leary with someone named Ryan, an overwhelming majority (76.5%) said Mr Musk should do so.
Ryanair is listed on the Euronext index in Dublin and its shares have a market capitalization of around €30.4bn (£26.5bn).
However, under EU law, EU-based airlines must be majority owned by people from the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein, meaning it would not be as simple as Mr Musk buying the company outright.
However, Mr O’Leary said the company would be open to investment from Mr Musk.
He told Sky News’s Stephen Murphy: “Elon Musk is very welcome to buy shares in Ryanair, I think it would be a very good investment for him but as a non-European he cannot acquire or own the company.”
