LONDON — The CEO of Ryanair on Wednesday dismissed Elon Musk’s idea of buying the budget airline and shrugged off insults from the billionaire, in a war of words that erupted over installing Starlink systems on aircraft.
The spat between one of the world’s richest individuals and one of Europe’s most outspoken corporate bosses has been escalating for days. O’Leary said last week that the airline had ruled out putting Musk’s Starlink satellite Wi-Fi on Ryanair planes because the extra fuel drag from the system’s antennas would be too costly.
Responding to Musk’s accusations that he was “misinformed,” O’Leary told an Irish radio station that Musk he would “pay no attention whatsoever Elon Musk said, he’s an idiot.”
Musk fired back on his social media platform X, calling O’Leary an “utter idiot” and an “imbecile.” He polled his users on the idea of buying the airline, and posted, “Should I buy Ryan Air and put someone whose actual name is Ryan in charge?”
O’Leary told reporters in Dublin, where Ryanair is based, that non-European citizens can’t own a majority stake in a European airlines. Musk was born in South Africa and lives in the United States.
“But if he wants to invest in Ryanair, we would think it’s a very good investment. Certainly a significantly better investment than the financial returns he’s earning on X,