In recent days, Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary and Elon Musk have been getting into it, and the situation keeps escalating. What started as a debate over Starlink Wi-Fi has turned into the two billionaires calling one another idiots, and Musk even threatening to buy Ryanair in order to fire O’Leary. Ryanair is firmly in the “any publicity is good publicity” camp, and as a continuation of this feud, the airline has just launched a hilarious fare sale.
Ryanair mocks Elon Musk with new fare sale
Ryanair has taken to X to promote how it has a new fare sale — the Irish carrier is saying “don’t thank us, thank that big ‘IDIOT’ Elon Musk.” The banner for the sale says that it’s “only available for Elon Musk and any other ‘idiots’ on X!!” O’Leary had recently called Musk’s X platform a “cesspool.”
The airline is selling 100,000 seats as part of this sale for travel in February, March, and April, starting at £16.99 including taxes & fees.
O’Leary is also apparently planning a press conference tomorrow in Dublin to “address/undress” the Elon Musk “Twitter tantrum,” as it’s described. O’Leary mentions how “Musk knows even less about airline ownership rules than he does about aircraft aerodynamics,” which is quite the dig, and a clear reference to Musk not even being able to buy Ryanair directly, even if he wanted to.
What a great opportunity all of this is for Ryanair
Ryanair is one of the world’s highest margin and most profitable airlines, and it’s incredibly well run. Ryanair has never shied away from controversy, and I don’t think the airline could be handed a more perfect opportunity than this confrontation with Elon Musk.
Elon Musk is certainly amplifying Ryanair, thinking somehow that’s going to harm the company. Musk doesn’t seem to understand that a) he’s not at all popular in most parts of Europe, so attacking him is viewed favorably and b) Ryanair thrives off controversy, and has no issues getting into these kinds of spats.
So Musk trying to badmouth an airline that literally relies on customers who are looking for cheap, nonstop flights, with no good alternatives, isn’t exactly a winning battle for him. But I’m sure Ryanair appreciates Musk writing about them to his 230+ million followers.
Usually I’m not a fan of these billionaire “pi$$ing matches” for lack of a better term, but the dynamics here are sort of hilarious.
Bottom line
It looks like the feud between Elon Musk and Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary isn’t quite over. The airline has now launched a fare sale for “idiots” like Elon Musk and others on X, as it’s described. O’Leary also plans to have a press conference tomorrow morning in Dublin, targeted at Elon Musk.
This whole controversy started over Starlink Wi-Fi, but is now about a lot more. I’m not sure Musk realizes the extent to which Ryanair loves this kind of attention.
What do you make of Ryanair’s “idiot” fare sale?
