Key facts
- O'Leary said Starlink was willing to cover the cost of installing WiFi terminals on Ryanair airplanes.
- O'Leary said Starlink believed 60% of Ryanair passengers would pay for free WiFi.
- O'Leary said Ryanair's January feud with Musk generated up to $40 million of free publicity.
- O'Leary cast doubt on whether easyJet will give Starlink WiFi away for free.
- Musk had not responded publicly to O'Leary on Monday, and SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary said on an earnings call on Monday that talks with Elon Musk's Starlink broke down because the SpaceX subsidiary believed 60% of the budget airline's passengers would pay for internet access. O'Leary said the airline had extensive discussions with Starlink, which he said was willing to cover the costs of installing WiFi terminals on Ryanair's airplanes. He said the disagreement was over whether passengers would pay for what he described as free WiFi.
O'Leary told Bloomberg TV after the call that he has no intention of making up with Musk. "He thinks I'm an idiot. I know he's an idiot," O'Leary said, according to Bloomberg TV. "If we can annoy him again, so much the better," he said. Musk had not responded publicly to O'Leary on Monday, and SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ryanair is the world's third-largest carrier by passenger numbers and the largest in Europe, attracting customers with fares as low as 15 euros ($17), according to the report. Its no-frills business model relies on operating a high volume of flights and charging for virtually everything beyond the fare.
Starlink has signed deals with nearly 50 carriers, according to the report. Its high-speed internet service is usually offered free to passengers who sign up for the airline's loyalty program. O'Leary cast doubt on whether easyJet, the British budget airline that announced a Starlink deal last Monday, would give the service away for free. "I understand the briefing is that they are going to charge passengers for it, to which I say, 'Well, good luck with that,'" O'Leary said. EasyJet did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
O'Leary first clashed with Musk in January after making a similar comment about passengers paying for WiFi. Musk argued that Ryanair would lose customers to airlines that do have Starlink. Over the next week, the two CEOs called each other idiots while Musk called for O'Leary to be fired and joked about purchasing the airline. Ryanair used the publicity to launch a "Big 'Idiot' Sale" with 100,000 tickets starting at £16.99, or about $23. O'Leary said on Monday that the spat generated up to $40 million of free publicity and bookings were up for two or three weeks afterward.