<figure id="attachment_3262459" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3262459" style="width: 1600px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-3262459" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/b74f0e89-ryanair.jpg" alt="Ryanair," width="1600" height="1000" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3262459" class="wp-caption-text">Elon Musk, who spent US$44 billion acquiring Twitter in 2022, has been hinting for days that he may buy Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline. (EPA Images pic)</figcaption></figure>
DUBLIN: US tech boss Elon Musk has polled followers on his social network X about buying Ryanair, stoking a clash with the airline&#8217;s boss Michael O&#8217;Leary over using the Starlink system onboard to use the internet.
By late Tuesday, lowcost carrier Ryanair had not replied to a request from AFP to respond to the poll that was posted Monday, with more than 900,000 participants.
Musk, who founded Tesla and heads Starlink &#8211; a satellite internet system developed by his aerospace company SpaceX &#8211; has been suggesting for days that he might buy Ryanair, Europe&#8217;s largest airline.
He has also called for O&#8217;Leary&#8217;s firing, describing him as &#8220;a real idiot&#8221;.
The feud between the pair, both known for their provocative outbursts, began after O&#8217;Leary gave an interview to Irish radio station Newstalk.
The Irishman ruled out using Starlink to equip his fleet with wifi, estimating it would cost up to US$250 million a year by increasing the drag from aerial antennae on its planes and burning more fuel.
Ryanair&#8217;s passengers would also not want to pay for the internet service, he said.
&#8220;What Elon Musk knows about flights and drag would be zero &#8230; I frankly wouldn&#8217;t pay any attention to anything Elon Musk puts on that cesspit of his called X,&#8221; he said.
&#8220;He&#8217;s an idiot; very rich, but still an idiot,&#8221; he added.
Ryanair&#8217;s market capitalisation stands at nearly €30 billion (US$35 billion).
European regulations, however, require that an airline based in the EU be majority-owned by EU nationals (or nationals of other European countries).
Elon Musk shelled out US$44 billion to buy Twitter in 2022, which he later renamed X.

MatchPoint Times

Elon Musk hints at buying Ryanair amid Starlink spat

The US tycoon polls followers on X whether to acquire the low-cost carrier amid a dispute over onboard internet use.

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