High-altitude clash between Musk and Ryanair

It continues clash between Elon Musk and Ryanair. In recent hours, the tycoon launched a survey on X asking users if they should think about buying the low-cost company. “I’m not on social media”, the ironic response of the company’s CEO Eddie Wilson, when asked about it during a press conference in Rome.

The crux of the dispute arises elsewhere, from Ryanair’s choice not to proceed at the moment with the installation of wi-fi on board of its aircraft, a service that is becoming increasingly popular on traditional carriers, which offer on-board entertainment systems, especially on intercontinental routes. These days Starlink of Musk announced agreements provision of the service with various companies. Ryanair, on the other hand, spoke of a business model that is not yet convincing for them due to the additional costs in terms of fuel.

“Wi-Fi on flights is obviously a good thing but at the moment it would have an impact on fuel costs, because we would consume more of it, while we are trying to do exactly the opposite”, explains Wilson. The manager underlines: “We receive hundreds of proposals every day. Obviously we also spoke with Starlink, Vodafone, Amazon, but the reality is that at the moment the connection costs would be passed on to passengers, who I don’t think want to pay more for it.”

“It’s necessary install the antenna on the fuselagewhich leads to an increase in fuel consumption of 2% due to weight and aerodynamic resistance”, O’Leary argued with Reuters in recent days. A comment for which Musk defined Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary as a “total idiot” for having excluded Starlinik’s wi-fi connection.

O’Leary, Musk insists, should be “fired”, in his opinion “he is not well informed” about connection costs on board. “Should I buy Ryanair and put someone in charge of the company, someone’s real name is Ryan?”, quipped Musk. O’Leary’s response, speaking to Irish radio Newstalk: Musk is “an idiot, very rich, but still an idiot”. He then labeled social platform X a “sewer.”