RYANAIR CHIEF EXECUTIVE Michael O’Leary has called Elon Musk a ‘Twitshit’ while announcing a press conference to make it clear the Space X boss can’t buy Ryanair.

O’Leary and Musk have been having a little spat recently over Starlink, Musk’s airline-compatible WIFI service – which O’Leary said he wouldn’t be installing due to the cost and fuel efficiency.

The claim didn’t go down well with Musk, who wrote on his platform X that O’Leary is “misinformed”. In response, the Ryanair boss told Newstalk that Musk is an “idiot”. 

The Tesla owner then created a poll asking his followers if he should buy Ryanair and “restore Ryan as their rightful ruler”.

Despite the back and forth jabs, Musk is not able to buy the budget airline – which is worth around €30.4bn.

EU regulations (Article 4) require that either an EU member state or a national of an EU member state hold the majority of shares in an airline if it is to operate within Europe.

As Musk is not a citizen of any EU member state, he won’t be able to take over the airline.

Don’t thank us, thank that big “IDIOT” @elonmusk 👀

Sale now on👇https://t.co/0c6IvsKyyB pic.twitter.com/JAxRNzaYTa

— Ryanair (@Ryanair) January 20, 2026

This didn’t stop Ryanair getting a few more jabs in. The airline shared a post on X about tomorrow’s press conference on the issue and announced a ‘big idiot’ sale in honour of the spat.

The post included a quote from Michael O’Leary: “Musk knows even less about airline ownership rules than he does about aircraft aerodynamics”.

The X post went on to advertise the sale.

“Perhaps Musk needs a break?? Ryanair is launching a Great Idiots seat sale especially for Elon and any other idiots on X’ 100,000 seats for just €16.99 one-way. Buy now before Musk gets one!” it said.

Musk has not yet responded to the latest comments.