Luc Rongier -
2 weeks ago In summary
• O’Leary refuses peace, saying Starlink is good but too costly for Ryanair.• Ryanair says antenna drag raises fuel use 1.5%, killing the Wi-Fi business case.
• The feud brought Ryanair huge publicity as rivals adopt Starlink anyway.
Michael O’Leary has no intention of making peace with Elon Musk. Months after the Ryanair CEO and the billionaire publicly traded insults over Starlink Wi-Fi, O’Leary has reignited the feud and revealed that the very public argument may have been surprisingly valuable for Europe’s largest airline.
Speaking after Ryanair reported its latest financial results, O’Leary said he had « no intention » of reconciling with Musk. His assessment of their relationship was even less diplomatic: « He thinks I’m an idiot. I know he’s the idiot. »
Behind the insults, however, lies a serious disagreement about the economics of putting high-speed satellite internet on hundreds of low-cost aircraft.
Ryanair Says Elon Musk’s Starlink Works Well but the Numbers Still Make No Sense for a Low-Cost Airline
The dispute began after Ryanair rejected the idea of installing Starlink across its fleet. O’Leary has never argued that SpaceX’s satellite internet does not work. In fact, he has repeatedly called it a good system.
His objection is financial.
Ryanair estimates that installing external Starlink antennas could increase fuel consumption by around 1.5% because of additional aerodynamic drag. With jet fuel prices already putting pressure on airline costs, O’Leary argues that even a relatively small increase becomes extremely expensive when multiplied across a fleet of more than 600 aircraft and thousands of daily flights.
« Starlink is a very good system, but this technology comes with a 1.5% fuel penalty because of the aerodynamic drag », O’Leary told analysts, according to comments reported by Bloomberg and subsequently cited by Air Journal.
The situation becomes even harder to justify from Ryanair’s perspective because the airline doubts passengers will pay enough for Wi-Fi to cover that added expense.
O’Leary said Ryanair held extensive discussions with Starlink and that SpaceX was willing to cover the installation of the terminals. The negotiations reportedly broke down over how many passengers would actually pay to connect.
Starlink believed a large share of Ryanair customers would be willing to purchase Wi-Fi. O’Leary strongly disagreed.
« If it’s free, some of our passengers will use it. If they have to pay, there’s no revenue model », he told investors.
What Started as a Wi-Fi Disagreement Turned Into One of Aviation’s Strangest Corporate Feuds
The disagreement became personal in January when O’Leary publicly questioned the economics of Starlink and dismissed Musk’s understanding of airline operating costs.
Musk responded on X by calling the Ryanair CEO an « utter idiot » and saying he should be fired. When another user suggested Musk simply buy Ryanair and remove O’Leary himself, Musk replied: « Good idea. »
O’Leary responded in typical fashion, pointing out that European ownership rules would prevent a non-European investor such as Musk from taking majority control of the airline.
Ryanair then turned the argument into marketing.
The carrier launched a “Big Idiot Seat Sale,” offering 100,000 discounted tickets while openly using the public fight to attract attention. O’Leary now says that strategy worked far better than anyone could have expected.
According to The Times, he estimates the feud generated between $30 million and $40 million worth of free publicity for Ryanair and helped boost bookings for two to three weeks.
That figure represents O’Leary’s estimate of the value of the media exposure, not $40 million in direct revenue earned from the dispute.
His conclusion is therefore unsurprising: « If we can annoy him again, so much the better. »
Ryanair Is Now Becoming the Outlier as Other European Airlines Embrace Starlink
The battle is becoming more interesting because Ryanair’s biggest competitors are moving in the opposite direction.
As Air Journal reported, easyJet recently announced plans to install Starlink across its Airbus A320-family fleet, with the first connected aircraft expected during the first half of 2027 and the rollout scheduled to be completed in 2028.
Wizz Air is also preparing to introduce Starlink, while Lufthansa Group plans to equip hundreds of aircraft with high-speed connectivity. In the United States, United Airlines has already made Starlink a major part of its onboard Wi-Fi strategy.
That puts growing pressure on Ryanair’s argument.
If passengers become accustomed to fast Wi-Fi on competing airlines, connectivity could eventually become something travelers expect rather than an optional luxury. Ryanair would then have to decide whether the fuel penalty is still more important than the competitive disadvantage of offering no comparable service.
O’Leary has left the door open. He says Ryanair could reconsider if Starlink equipment can eventually be installed without creating additional aerodynamic drag and without imposing significant costs on the airline.
Until then, he appears perfectly comfortable being the airline executive willing to tell Elon Musk no.
And considering O’Leary believes their last argument generated as much as $40 million in publicity, another public fight may be one of the few things involving Starlink that Ryanair is currently happy to get for free.
