A public feud between two air travel CEOs is benefiting flyers and Ryanair. Its head, Michael O’Leary, is turning a heated digital spat with SpaceX’s Elon Musk into a marketing win.
The spat began after O’Leary rejected the idea of installing Musk’s Starlink satellite Wi-Fi across Ryanair’s fleet, saying that the move would cost an estimated $250 million annually for installation and add to the company’s fuel expenses due to the two antennae that would need to be installed on the fuselage of each of the company’s 643 planes.
While Starlink suggests 90% of passengers would pay for Wi-Fi, Ryanair’s internal data shows that less than 10% are actually willing to cover the cost.
Musk fired back on X, calling O’Leary an “idiot,” questioning his intelligence in aerodynamics. He also jokingly asked how much it would cost to buy Ryanair and replace its CEO with a guy named Ryan.
Rather than taking offense, O’Leary leaned into the moment. He launched a “Big Idiot Seat Sale,” offering tickets for as low as $23 to 100,000 customers across January, February, and March, and even offered Musk a free seat.
O’Leary says the public row has significantly boosted ticket bookings for Europe’s largest budget carrier.
He also welcomed Musk’s acquisition interest, noting that while non-EU citizens cannot own a majority stake, Musk’s money would be better spent on Ryanair than on the diminishing returns of X.