Ryanair Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:RYAAY) CEO, Michael O’Leary, said that his public spat with Elon Musk has delivered a boost to the airliner’s bookings, while adding that the billionaire entrepreneur was welcome to invest in the airline, which he said offers better returns than “X.”
Speaking at a press briefing on Wednesday, O’Leary outlined why Ryanair has opted not to install Starlink satellite internet across its fleet, citing installation costs and “fuel drag,” which he said would increase the airline’s fuel bill by “€100 and €200 million” annually.
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The decision had sparked a storm on X earlier this week, with Musk calling O’Leary “an utter idiot,” while floating the idea of purchasing the airline and firing the CEO, who he said would be replaced by someone named “Ryan.”
“But we do want to thank him,” O’Leary said on Musk’s repeated attacks, saying that the airline had received “three or four million hits” for its “great idiots” seat sale, which was launched on Tuesday.
O’Leary also offered Musk a free ticket to thank him for the “wonderful” boost in publicity the airline had received as a result of his actions, which he said had led to a “very significant” surge in bookings, by 2% to 3% over the past five days.
Ryanair CEO addresses his recent spat with Elon Musk in new press conference:
“The Starlink people believe that 90% of our passengers would happily pay for wifi access. Our experience is tells us less than 10% would pay; He (Elon) called me a r*tarted twat. He would have to join… pic.twitter.com/P8iYCWRApf
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O’Leary said that the Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO was welcome to invest in the airline. “We’re a publicly owned company. He’s free to do so at any time,” he said, while noting that “non-European citizens cannot own a majority of European airlines.”
In a subtle dig at Musk, O’Leary said that Ryanair would be “a very good investment,” adding that it was “a significantly better investment” than his $44 billion acquisition of X, formerly known as Twitter.
Shares of Ryanair have been rallying over the past week, up 2.83% amid Musk’s proposal to acquire the company. On Wednesday, the stock surged 1.37%, closing at $70.45 and is up 3.89% overnight. The airliner scores high on Momentum and Value in Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings, with a favorable price trend in the short, medium and long terms.
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