Ryanair CEO trolls Elon Musk, offering big idiot sale as Starlink feud rages on | Latest Tech News
The CEO of Ryanair on Wednesday dismissed Elon Musk’s concept of shopping for the finances airline and shrugged off insults from the billionaire, in a struggle of phrases that erupted over putting in Starlink systems on plane.
The spat between one of the world’s richest people and one of Europe’s most outspoken company bosses has been escalating for days. Michael O’Leary said last week that the airline had ruled out placing Musk’s Starlink satellite tv for pc Wi-Fi on Ryanair planes because the additional fuel drag from the system’s antennas can be too pricey.
Responding to Musk’s accusations that he was “misinformed,” O’Leary told an Irish radio station that “I would pay no attention whatsoever to Elon Musk, he’s an idiot.”
Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary has taken benefit of the spat to launch a seat sale with promotional materials that includes a caricature of Elon Musk. AP
Musk fired back on his social media platform X, calling O’Leary an “utter idiot” and an “imbecile.” He posted, “Should I buy Ryan Air and put someone whose actual name is Ryan in charge?” and polled his followers on the concept of shopping for the airline, with 76.5% responding yes.
O’Leary told reporters in Dublin, where Ryanair is based, that non-European residents can’t own a majority stake in a European airways. Musk was born in South Africa and lives in the United States.
“But if he wants to invest in Ryanair, we would think it’s a very good investment. Certainly a significantly better investment than the financial returns he’s earning on X,” O’Leary said.
Musk bought X in 2022 for $44 billion after clashing with top executives at the platform beforehand recognized as Twitter.
O’Leary, who’s recognized for trolling critics, thanked Musk for “additional publicity.” The airline has taken benefit of the spat to launch a seat sale with promotional materials that includes a caricature of Musk.
He disregarded the billionaire’s insults.
“All I would say to Elon Musk is he would have to join the back of a very, very, very, very long queue of people” who have already insulted him, “including my four teenage children,” he said.
O’Leary, who’s recognized for trolling critics, thanked Musk for “additional publicity.” REUTERS
“All I would say to Elon Musk is he would have to join the back of a very, very, very, very long queue of people” who have already insulted him, “including my four teenage children,” he said. REUTERS
O’Leary said Ryanair had been in discussions with Starlink for about 12 months on putting in the system,
“We like the Starlink system. It is a terrific system. It works very well,” he said, but including it could price the company about $250 million a 12 months. That consists of the fee of putting in two antennas onto each plane fuselage, plus an additional 2% of aerodynamic drag that would increase the fuel invoice by $200 million.
Ryanair would have to charge for Starlink but O’Leary estimated that less than 5% of passengers would need to spend a few additional euros for the service on its short-haul flights, which average about one hour and quarter-hour.
The airline is still in talks with other telecommunications suppliers, including Amazon, which is launching its Starlink rival Kuiper, to present onboard web service. gordzam – stock.adobe.com
The airline is still in talks with other telecommunications suppliers, including Amazon, which is launching its Starlink rival Kuiper, to present onboard web service, “but only in a way where it will lower our costs,” O’Leary said.
He also addressed a current controversy around Musk’s AI chatbot Grok, which is obtainable through X and was getting used to generate nonconsensual deepfake photos.
“Social media, X in particular is, a cesspit,” O’Leary said. “The most recent controversy with, you know, undressing children or undressing women is frankly offensive.”
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