Michael O’Leary to Musk: ‘He’s a bigger idiot than me’
Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary described Elon Musk as “a bigger idiot than me” during a press conference held in Dublin today to “address/undress” statements made by the X owner.
Mr O’Leary appeared to waste no time in making the most of the twitter spat with Musk – who asked his followers if he should buy RyanAir. The airline today launched what it called a “great idiots” seat sale “especially” for Mr Musk and “any other idiots in X,” offering 100,000 seats for €16.99.
“We had originally called this press conference to call out our Taoiseach, Micheál “do-nothing” Martin for 13 months of inaction on the Dublin Airport cap,” Mr O’Leary told reporters today in Dublin.
“I understand we’ve been slightly overtaken by some social media controversy with Elon Musk,” he added.
“We are sending around to the X Dublin offices this morning a free ticket for Elon Musk as part of our ‘Big Idiot’ seat sale. I’ve included myself and him in this Big Idiot seat sale. I suspect he’s a bigger idiot than me, but nevertheless, he probably thinks I’m a bigger idiot than him,” said the businessman.
On January 16, Musk floated the idea of buying RyanAir on a tweet posted to his platform, X: “Should I buy Ryan Air and put someone whose actual name is Ryan in charge?” he quipped.
The billionaire was responding to the Ryanair account, after it reposted a tweet about X suffering widespread outage across the US as users reported issues posting and loading feeds.
“Perhaps you need Wi-Fi @elonmusk?” the Ryanair account had said, tagging Musk, in the online flare-up which erupted with the Irish airline over the use of wifi on flights.
The Tesla founder also created a poll, asking his 232 million followers if he should buy O’Leary’s RyanAir and “restore Ryan as their rightful ruler.”
“How much would it cost to buy you?” Musk asked in a follow-up tweet on January 19th, adding: “I really want to put a Ryan in charge of Ryan Air. It is your destiny.”
When asked about Starlink, Mr Musk’s satellite internet system, being introduced on planes, O’Leary told Newstalk that Musk was an “idiot,” and claimed he would “pay no attention whatsoever” to him.
O’Leary, however, was critical of Musk’s floating of the idea to buy the airline, with his spat with Musk escalating in recent days. Mr O’Leary has described Mr Musk’s online statements as a “Twitter tantrum,” adding in a statement on Monday: “Musk knows even less about airline ownership rules than he does about aircraft dynamics.”
In the promotional campaign, RyanAir wrote to consumers: “Buy now before Musk gets one.”
One reporter jokingly asked O’Leary if he had any plans to purchase a Tesla.
“No, absolutely not,” said O’Leary. “I live in Mullingar, 50 miles from Dublin, and my favourite mode of transport is a Landini tractor. We’re not at an electrification stage yet. There’s no support for Elon Musk or his social media or his electric cars here.
“I take no umbrage with being called an idiot or a twat. As anybody with teenage children would know, you’re frequently called an idiot and a twat at home. I don’t need to go outside to be insulted,” said O’Leary in reference to Musk’s criticism of him.
At the press conference today, Mr O’Leary said his focus was on getting Micheál Martin to return immediately from the World Economic Forum’s conference in Davos, Switzerland, which O’Leary referred to as a “doss in Davos.”
The airline boss said he wants to see legislation passed quickly to scrap Dublin Airport’s illegal cap before the end of January.
Otherwise, he claimed, Ireland runs the real risk that the Trump Administration “will block Aer Lingus flights landing in the USA, or even worse, Micheál Martin’s March trip to the White House.”
“Micheál Martin’s inaction on the Dublin Airport cap is indefensible, 13 months after his 20-seat majority Govt published their Program in Jan 2025, promising that the Dublin cap would be scrapped “as soon as possible”. Sadly, in Micheál Martin’s world “as soon as possible” means 1, 2, or 3 years maybe later,” O’Leary told reporters. He described the “inaction” of the government as “an embarrassment.”
“The main reason for this inaction is Micheál Martin’s never-ending “worldwide tour”, which last year included visits to Canada, Brazil, South Africa, Angola, and frequent trips to Brussels,” he added.
“Already in January, he has been to China. And this week he is wasting more time dossing in Davos, and getting his photo taken, while his government delivers zero action here at home. What chance has Ireland got of real reform on housing or infrastructure, when Micheál Martin’s Government, with a 20-seat majority, hasn’t scrapped the Dublin Airport cap, 13 months after they promised to do so as soon as possible?”
“The problem Ireland suffers is a “do-nothing” Taoiseach leading a “do-nothing” government,” added Mr O’Leary, telling reporters that Micheál Martin “prefers overseas trips rather than delivering real action on his Govt Program here at home.”
Mr O’Leary also hit out at US President Donald Trump during today’s press conference, saying: “Europe should stand up as a strong trading block and tell him [Trump] he’s wrong and stop trying to pander to him and invite him to dinner when you know he wants to… I don’t understand why – he needs to own Greenland.
“It’s certainly not for some defence or military reason because [the US is] a member of NATO and Denmark is a member of NATO. I don’t think Denmark or Green would have any issue if Trump wanted to invest and reopen those bases in Greenland and invest in Greenland. You don’t need to own it for that.”
“We wiped the floor with American air travel in terms of competitiveness,” O’Leary said earlier in the briefing, referring to €45 RyanAir fares.
