Michael O’Leary: Elon Musk can insult me all day if it boosts Ryanair sales

By Gráinne Ní Aodha, Press Association

Michael O’Leary has said Elon Musk can insult him “all day, every day” if it helps to boost Ryanair sales.

The airline chief has been engaged in a back-and-forth with the tech billionaire over whether Mr Musk’s Starlink internet system could be used to provide wifi on Ryanair flights.

After Mr O’Leary said this was not feasible, Mr Musk called Mr O’Leary an “idiot” and “chimp” and mused on X whether he should buy the airline.

At a press conference in Dublin on Wednesday, Mr O’Leary criticised Taoiseach Micheál Martin and the EU before thanking Mr Musk for the “significant” boost in sales for Ryanair.

“All I would say to Elon Musk is he would have to join the back of a very, very, very, very long queue of people who already think I’m a retarded twat, including my four teenage children,” Mr O’Leary said at a press conference in Dublin.

“If he wants to call me an idiot, he wouldn’t be the first, and he certainly won’t be the last to call me an idiot or a retarded twat. But if it helps to boost Ryanair sales, you could insult me all day, every day.”

He said that the “PR spat” had driven a 2-3 per cent increase in sales in the last five days.

He added: “We’re very happy to continue the controversy. I welcome the accusation that I’m a chimp, it’s somewhat unfair on the chimp community, but chimp, chump, as long as it increases Ryanair bookings through January, February, and March, it’s all good fun and entertainment.”

He said a Ryanair ticket would be delivered to X’s offices in Dublin on Wednesday to thank Mr Musk for the “wonderful boost in publicity”.

“I’m sure it does wonders for Elon Musk and his X, or whatever subscribers he has on X as well, to be fighting with somebody.

“But as long as it doesn’t involve safety, and we’ve never compromised on safety, any of these spats are great for bookings and great for awareness all over Europe.”

Mr O’Leary said the company had been engaging with Mr Musk’s Starlink satellite internet system for 12 months about introducing wifi on flights.

He said while Starlink is a “terrific” system, installing it would mean putting aerials on aircrafts that would result in fuel drag at a cost of €100-200 million.

He also said that while Starlink insist 90 per cent of passengers would pay for wifi, Ryanair estimate that less than 10 per cent would pay for the cost – of €2 or $3.

“If Starlink wants to fit our aircrafts and pay for the fuel drag, we’d happily put them on board.

“But the only way we see Starlink working on board short-term flights is if you give it away for free, and like most things in life, if you give it away for free, passengers will use it.”