Elon Musk has raised the prospect of buying Ryanair in the latest escalation of a public feud with the airline’s outspoken chief executive, Michael O’Leary, over inflight satellite internet.
The exchange began last week after O’Leary dismissed the idea of installing Musk’s Starlink technology across Ryanair’s fleet of around 650 aircraft. The disagreement quickly turned personal, with O’Leary branding Musk “an idiot”, prompting Musk to return the insult in kind.
The row took a new turn when Musk posted a poll on X, asking users whether he should “buy Ryan Air and restore Ryan as their rightful ruler”, a reference to the airline’s founder, Tony Ryan, who died in 2007. The post attracted tens of millions of views but appeared to be treated lightly by financial markets.
Ryanair, Europe’s busiest airline, has a market valuation of roughly $30 billion. Its shares briefly rose in early trading on Tuesday on the Euronext, before giving up gains to trade flat on the day at €28.83 and below last week’s level — a sign investors are not taking the takeover suggestion at face value.
There was no immediate response from Ryanair to Musk’s comments. O’Leary, who has previously described X, formerly Twitter, as “a cesspit”, is a self-confessed non-user of social media platforms.
The dispute originated when O’Leary was asked whether Ryanair would follow rivals such as Lufthansa and British Airways in adopting Starlink for onboard connectivity. He said it would not, arguing that the necessary antennae and hardware would add weight and drag to aircraft, increasing fuel burn and operating costs by as much as $250 million across the fleet.
O’Leary also questioned passenger demand, suggesting travellers might use inflight internet if it were free, but would be unwilling to pay even €1 for the service.
Musk responded by accusing O’Leary of being “misinformed” about the impact of Starlink hardware on aircraft performance. O’Leary countered that Musk’s knowledge of running an airline amounted to “zero”.
Despite the theatrics, analysts said the episode appeared to have little bearing on Ryanair’s fundamentals, with investors treating Musk’s takeover musings as more social media provocation than a serious corporate move.