The Irish carrier announced what it dubbed a ‘big idiot’ seat sale, explicitly dedicating the promotion to Musk after a war of words with Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary. ‘Don’t thank us, thank the big “idiot” Elon Musk,’ the airline said in a post promoting the campaign.
The spat erupted after Musk, responding on his social media platform X, described O’Leary as ‘an utter idiot’ and called for him to be fired. The remark followed O’Leary’s public rejection of installing Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service on Ryanair aircraft.
O’Leary, a combative and outspoken executive in his own right, dismissed the idea of equipping more than 600 Ryanair planes with Starlink, citing the added fuel costs caused by antenna drag. He estimated the service could cost the airline up to $250 million a year.
Musk fired back on X, accusing O’Leary of ignorance and claiming Ryanair did not understand how to measure Starlink’s impact on fuel consumption. In a subsequent interview with Irish radio station Newstalk, O’Leary said Musk ‘knows nothing about aviation,’ again calling him an ‘idiot’ and describing X as ‘a cesspit.’
The exchange intensified when Musk posted on Friday: ‘Ryanair CEO is an utter idiot. Fire him.’ When one follower suggested Musk simply buy Ryanair and do it himself, Musk replied: ‘Good idea.’
On Monday night, Musk responded to a post from Ryanair’s official account by asking how much it would cost to buy the airline. He later added: ‘I really want to put someone named Ryan in charge of Ryanair. It’s your destiny.’
Minutes later, Musk launched a poll asking his followers whether he should purchase the airline. More than 937,000 users responded, with over 75 percent voting in favor of the idea.
Ryanair quickly seized on the moment. The airline announced that O’Leary would hold a press conference in Dublin on Wednesday to address what it called Musk’s ‘Twitter tantrum.’ In a deliberately provocative post, Ryanair said the CEO would ‘address or undress’ Musk’s latest outburst, using crude language to mock his online behavior.
O’Leary added another barb, saying Musk ‘knows even less about airline ownership rules than he does about aircraft aerodynamics.’
The promotional campaign itself offers 100,000 seats starting at £16.99 for flights in February, March and April. Ryanair emphasized the sale was open to Musk and ‘any other idiots on X,’ continuing the satirical tone across its website and social media channels.
Ryanair has not flown to Israel since the outbreak of the war.