Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary discusses public row with Elon Musk

Ryanair’s disagreement with Elon Musk over Starlink installation costs led to widespread media coverage.
The spat generated €50m in free publicity and additional bookings for the airline.
Quarterly after-tax profit fell to €115m, influenced by higher costs and a regulatory fine.
Full-year profit forecast raised to between €2.13bn and €2.23bn with passenger numbers at 208m.
Plans for US advertisements to challenge the Dublin Airport passenger cap and urge government action.

Ryanair group CEO Michael O’Leary has described the recent disagreement with Elon Musk as a public negotiation that evolved into substantial public relations benefit for the airline.

The conflict originated when O’Leary expressed doubts about the value of installing SpaceX’s Starlink system on Ryanair’s fleet, citing high costs that the airline refused to bear. Musk responded by challenging the cost assessments, leading to an exchange of criticisms between the two executives. O’Leary later praised the Starlink technology while insisting on the need for further improvements before adoption. The episode drew widespread media attention, resulting in increased website traffic and bookings for Ryanair.

In financial developments, Ryanair reported an after-tax profit of €115m for the final three months of 2025, down from €145m in the prior year due to rising costs and the cessation of Boeing compensation payments. The airline adjusted its forecast for average fare growth, expecting a rise of one or twopcage points above the previously predicted sevenpc for the year ending March 31. Profits for the full year are projected to range between €2.13bn and €2.23bn, reflecting strong demand and passenger numbers anticipated to reach 208m. An exceptional charge of €85m related to a fine from the Italian competition authority impacted the quarterly results, though O’Leary expressed confidence in overturning the full €256m penalty on appeal.

Regarding operational challenges, Ryanair criticised the Dublin Airport passenger cap, which remains suspended pending a European Court of Justice ruling, and revealed plans to place advertisements on Fox News in the United States to pressure the Irish Government into removing it. The ads aim to highlight breaches of the EU-US Open Skies Agreement and disadvantages to American airlines. O’Leary voiced doubts about the government’s commitment to resolving the issue, especially during Ireland’s upcoming EU Presidency. Relations with Boeing have improved, with deliveries of remaining 737 MAX 200 aircraft on schedule and confidence in the arrival of new 737 MAX 10s in spring 2027.

Michael O’Leary shared “I hope it escalates – it generated about €50m in free publicity and additional bookings for Ryanair last year, if I could escalate it and extend it for another week we’d keep going. I thought it was great, 99pc of my passengers when making a booking want to know what’s the cheapest airfare – I would put our cheapest airfare up against anybody else with Starlink and we would win. He’s welcome to buy shares in the company. There’d be a much better investment than his investment in X.”

“Last week alone, there were 1,500 news articles carried across 49 different countries around the world. We saw a spike in visitors to our website and a spike in bookings. So we’re both winners. The great thing about these kind of controversies is if it generates noise, it’s good for Elon Musk and it’s good for Ryanair. And I hope we’ll have some other opportunities to create more controversies as we go along, because anything that creates free publicity is good for our business.”

“It’s important not to get distracted by quarterly numbers – overall this morning we are predicting full year profits somewhere between €2.1 and 2.2bn after tax – so a strong year, overall for the year profits will be well up.”

“Traffic is also rising faster than we expected – we expect to carry 208m passengers this year. We have no faith in this Government settling this issue, the growth this year at the moment is taking place outside of Ireland because of the continuation of this cap. There’s a real risk the Trump administration block Aer Lingus flights landing in New York in which case it’ll be emergency legislation passed in 24 hours. Or else Micheál Martin will have to explain himself when he gets to the White House in six weeks’ time. They’ll be too busy having their photographs taken and having State dinners to actually get anything done.”

“So, it needs to be done before he gets to the White House in March. If it’s not done, we’ll be running Fox ads through March, raising this issue with [President] Trump and calling on him to block Aer Lingus flights until Micheál Martin finally takes action.”

“But, if it’s the only way we can force this Taoiseach with a 20-seat majority to actually pass some legislation, then it will be good for it in the long term.”

“The Irish Government published their Programme for Government in January 2025, 13 months ago. They said they’d get rid of the cap as soon as possible, and 13 months later, nothing done.”