Musk and Ryanair CEO Clash Over Starlink Rejection

Elon Musk and Ryanair Chief Executive Michael O'Leary traded public insults on Friday, escalating a dispute over the low-cost carrier's decision to forgo installation of Musk's Starlink satellite internet service on its aircraft.

The feud began earlier in the week when O'Leary announced that Ryanair would not equip its fleet of more than 600 jets with Starlink, citing the added fuel costs from aerodynamic drag caused by the required antenna. He estimated the service could cost the airline up to 250 million euros annually, equivalent to about an extra dollar per passenger. "We don't think our passengers are willing to pay for WiFi for an average one-hour flight," O'Leary told Reuters on Wednesday. Ryanair, Europe's largest budget airline by passenger volume, operates primarily short- and medium-haul routes across Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, and does not currently offer in-flight WiFi on any of its planes.

Musk, whose SpaceX company operates the Starlink network of thousands of low-Earth orbit satellites designed to deliver high-speed broadband, responded on his social media platform X, asserting that O'Leary was misinformed and that Ryanair lacked the expertise to...