When billionaire Elon Musk hurled insults at the CEO of Europe’s largest airline, he may not have been expecting the company to lean into the feud by launching a “big ‘idiot’ seat sale” with Musk’s face all over it.
In a news conference Wednesday, the low-cost carrier Ryanair’s chief executive, Michael O’Leary, said he welcomed the publicity generated by the mudslinging match, which began after Musk criticized the airline’s refusal to install Starlink — Musk’s internet service — on its fleet. Last week, Musk branded O’Leary an “idiot,” suggesting he might buy the airline and replace its chief with someone “whose actual name is Ryan.”
O’Leary and his team — known in Europe for their unpolished marketing approach — responded in true Ryanair fashion: pouncing on the controversy and milking it to sell as many airfares as possible.
On Wednesday, the airline’s social media accounts and website ran advertisements for tens of thousands of discounted flights with barbs of its own — claiming the offer was “only available for Elon Musk and any other ‘idiots’ on X!” The promotion was accompanied by an image of what appeared to be O’Leary bashing Musk, who is wearing his signature leather jacket, over the head with an “I [heart] Ryanair” sign.
In Wednesday’s news briefing, O’Leary said that the back-and-forth with Musk had caused a “significant boost” in sales.
Don’t thank us, thank that big “IDIOT” @elonmusk
Sale now on
https://t.co/0c6IvsKyyB pic.twitter.com/JAxRNzaYTa
— Ryanair (@Ryanair) January 20, 2026
The spat began last week after O’Leary told Reuters that his airline would not strike a deal to install Starlink’s satellite aircraft on its planes, prompting a civil back-and-forth that grew increasingly heated. Within days, Musk was personally insulting Ryanair’s CEO and floating the ideaof buying the airline. At one stage Musk branded O’Leary “a chimp,” an insult O’Leary laughed off as “somewhat unfair on the chimp community.”
Tesla’s CEO has not shied away from allowing personal spats to spill into public view, including a high-profile feud with President Donald Trump that lasted several months last year. A representative for SpaceX, which owns Starlink, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In Wednesday’s briefing, O’Leary also pointed out that European regulations require the airline to be majority European-owned.
“Should he launch a bid for Ryanair?” O’Leary questioned. “We’re a publicly owned company. He’s free to do so at any time, but, non-European citizens cannot own a majority of European airlines,” he said.
O’Leary said that while Musk’s Starlink was “a very good system” installing it on his planes, as other airlines have, would cost the company too much money by causing a “fuel drag” caused by antenna installed on the main body of the plane. In response, Musk said O’Leary was being “misinformed.”
In the briefing, he said that Ryanair had declined to install Starlink as he believed not enough passengers would be willing to pay for internet access on short-haul flights, and the airline was unwilling to provide it free.
“This escalation is bold and brutally savvy,” social media consultant Matt Navarra said on Wednesday, pointing to the airline’s reputation of weaponizing “blunt humor and provocation” to drive attention and promote itself.
Navarra described Ryanair’s marketing approach as “fascinating,” which he said is at odds with the polished strategy adopted by most other major brands online. “They aren’t afraid to get personal or snarky,” he said of Ryanair’s marketing strategy. “They know that controversy spreads faster than anything else.”
Ryanair did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
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