Ryanair has taken a leaf out of Elon Musk’s playbook, turning an online spat with the SpaceX billionaire into free publicity for an online sale. The promotional campaign follows a row that ignited after the budget airline’s CEO said he would not buy Starlink satellites due to the additional fuel-burning costs they bring. Musk said Michael O’Leary’s calculations were wrong and called him an idiot. From there, the two have exchanged further insults, with Ryanair now cashing in on the clash.
It started with public disagreement about the technical specifications and extra fuel costs of the Starlink satellite equipment that would need to be fitted to the exterior of every plane in the Ryanair fleet. Musk responded with a threat to buy Ryanair and, in what some have called a bizarrely childish retort, put someone whose name is “Ryan in charge of Ryanair.”
O’Leary came back with a statement and a press conference. “Musk knows even less about airline ownership rules than he does about aircraft aerodynamics,” he said. He also appeared briefly to try to cool the temperature of the debate, with some compliments directed at the SpaceX owner. “I don’t quite know why he took such umbrage over it,” O’Leary said. “We have been in discussion with Starlink, his satellite system, for over 12 months now. It is a very good system. We like the Starlink system.”
.@elonmusk pic.twitter.com/c0rHEiJrIz
— Ryanair (@Ryanair) January 20, 2026
Part of the problem, O’Leary explained, is the difference between Ryanair’s market offer and that of other airlines. Ryanair’s selling point is its very cheap standard fares and its knowledge of its customers, who do not like paying for auxiliary products, it says. But to cover the fuel burn cost that would come with attaching antennae to the aircraft, O’Leary said he would have to charge his customers for a Wi-Fi system that other airlines often provide for free.
“The Starlink people believe that 90% of our passengers would happily pay for Wi-Fi access. Our experience sadly tells us that less than 10% of our passengers pay for this access, therefore we can’t afford to shoulder the costs.”
Having made those points, O’Leary raised the stakes again, inviting Starlink to cover the extra costs associated with installing Wi-Fi, or to go ahead and make an investment in the airline. “We’re a publicly owned company, he’s free to do so anytime,” the CEO pointed out. “Non-European citizens can not own a majority of a European airline, but if he wants to invest in Ryanair, we will certainly think it’s a great investment.”
O’Leary appeared to compare Musk to a teenager, saying he had been called worse names by his own children. Later, he referred to both himself and Musk as “old farts” who could settle the matter with an arm wrestle or fight to entertain the world.
What’s more, the official Ryanair account announced it was launching a “Great Idiots” seat sale dedicated to Musk and “any other idiots on X”. A promotional image used at a press event appeared to depict O’Leary stabbing Musk in the neck with an “I heart Ryanair” sign.
Don’t thank us, thank that big “IDIOT” @elonmusk 👀
— Ryanair (@Ryanair) January 20, 2026
Sale now on👇https://t.co/0c6IvsKyyB pic.twitter.com/JAxRNzaYTa
“We do want to thank him,” O’Leary said of Musk. “We have had over 3–4 million hits on the seat sale launch yesterday, which is the Big Idiot seat sale.” The airline has put 100,000 seats on sale for just €16.99, highlighting Europe’s superiority when it comes to good value air travel, O’Leary claimed. “There are no airfares like this in North America,” he said. He added that a Ryanair team would pay a visit to X’s Dublin office at Cumberland House, “to give Elon Musk a free Ryanair ticket to thank him for the wonderful publicity.”
