The battle of the billionaires between Elon Musk and Ryanair’s boss, Michael O’Leary, has intensified. Europe’s biggest budget airline has launched what it calls a “Ryanair’s Big ‘Idiot’ Seat Sale”.
Millions of email subscribers have been sent a mock-up of Mr Musk and Mr O’Leary on a plinth labelled “Big Idiots”. The airline CEO has a “I [heart] Ryanair” poster with which he appears to be striking the owner of Tesla, X (formerly Twitter), SpaceX and Starlink.
The figure of Mr Musk, the world’s richest man, is holding a red model Tesla car, and has a model rocket beside his left leg.
The advertising copy promises 100,000 seats are available from £16.99 for travel between February and April. It reads: “Only available for Elon Musk and any other ‘idiots’ on X!!. Book today before Musk gets one!”
Clicking through takes the prospective traveller to a page with dozens of destinations at prices starting at under £15.
The spat between Mr Musk and Mr O’Leary began when the latter said he would not follow other airlines in installing Starlink wifi on the Ryanair fleet of Boeing 737 aircraft. The airline boss said the necessary equipment would create extra aeronautical drag that would cost £250m annually. “We don’t think our passengers are willing to pay,” Mr O’Leary said.
The Starlink owner said Mr O’Leary’s calculation was wrong. The stakes increased when the Ryanair boss told an Irish radio station: “I would pay no attention whatsoever to Elon Musk. He’s an idiot. Very wealthy, but he’s still an idiot.”
Mr Musk has insisted Mr O’Leary “needs to be fired” and suggested he could buy Ryanair. But European Union rules on airline ownership make that prospect most unlikely. While the entrepreneur has American, Canadian and South African citizenship, the EU requires airlines to be owned by European entities.
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