Unfriendly takeover attempt Elon Musk insults Ryanair CEO - who turns it into PR
Ryanair decides not to install Starlink in its jets for cost reasons. Elon Musk then calls the airline's CEO an idiot. He counters with the "Big Idiots Seat Sale".
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- Ryanair has decided not to install the Starlink satellite system in its aircraft because the costs could not be recouped.
- Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary and Starlink CEO Elon Musk then call each other idiots.
- Musk asks X users to vote on whether he should buy Ryanair, which 76.5 percent approve.
- Ryanair then launches the "Big Idiots Seat Sale" and announces that bookings have risen by 2 to 3 percent in the last few days. In addition, a European airline would lose all landing rights in Europe if it were taken over by a non-European.
Elon Musk has once again found someone he can argue with in public: Michael O'Leary, CEO of the British low-cost airline Ryanair.
The background to this is the apparently failed negotiations regarding the installation of Starlink in Ryanair jets. Thanks to Musk's satellite internet service, all passengers would have been able to surf while flying.
However, Ryanair's management came to the conclusion that this would not pay off. The additional air resistance caused by the satellite antenna required on the aircraft fuselage and the additional weight would have increased fuel consumption too much. Together with the other costs, Internet on board would cost each passenger up to three dollars - a price that the customers of the low-cost airline would not be prepared to pay.
Elon Musk and Michael O'Leary insult each other
Musk did not want to let this sit on him and Starlink. The Ryanair CEO had miscalculated the air resistance by a factor of 10, he claimed. O'Leary, never at a loss for a public argument, told an Irish radio station a little later, according to DPA: "I wouldn't pay any attention to Elon Musk, he's an idiot."
Musk then called O'Leary an idiot and a retarded fool and asked the X users whether he should buy Ryanair. Almost one million votes were received, with 76.5 percent voting in favor of the purchase.
Ryan Musk does not reveal who he wants to appoint as the "rightful ruler" of Ryanair. The founder of the airline, Tony Ryan, has been dead since 2007.
The airline CEO then called a media conference and gleefully explained that non-Europeans cannot buy a European airline. EU law prohibits this. Elon Musk was born in South Africa and is a US citizen. "But if he wants to invest in Ryanair, we think it's a very good investment," said O'Leary, adding, "certainly much better than what he's making with X."
Ryanair bookings take off
As a shrewd salesman, O'Leary used the social media exchange of blows for a PR campaign; his IT team had launched the "Big Idiot Seat Sale", loosely translated as the Big Idiot Ticket Campaign. 100,000 seats are being sold to Elon Musk and "other idiots on X" for 16.99 dollars. Anyone who buys such a ticket confirms that they are an idiot.
Overall, bookings have risen by 2 to 3 percent since the dispute with the X CEO, he explains at a media conference. "We would like to thank Elon Musk for giving us this boost," he continues, explaining that they had delivered a free idiot ticket for Elon Musk at X's Ireland office.
In passing, Michael O'Leary explains that he is not offended by being called an idiot and a moron, which is what his four teenage children call him all the time. However, he stands by his analysis that Starlink is a very good system, but that it is not worth installing in Ryanair jets.
EU law prevents takeover by non-Europeans
A reaction from Elon Musk to O'Leary's latest statements is not known. EU law does indeed seem to have taken the pressure off a takeover. Ryanair is extremely profitable and accordingly highly valued on the stock market - currently around 30 billion dollars. Swiss owner Lufthansa is worth around 10 billion.
However, with a non-European majority owner, Ryanair would lose its landing rights at European airports, as the Handelsblatt explains. It would have to renegotiate these with every country and would not be allowed to fly in Europe for so long, which would represent an enormous financial burden. The richest man in the world could possibly afford this. Nevertheless, the project is rather unlikely, even for someone like Musk.