Elon Musk floated the idea of buying Ryanair as the tech billionaire’s spat with O’Leary escalates.
O’Leary’s press conference will be held in Dublin at 10am, to address what Ryanair described as Musk’s “Twitter tantrum”.
In a statement released on Tuesday afternoon, Ryanair said O’Leary will address “Elon Musk’s latest Twitshit”.
“Musk knows even less about airline ownership rules than he does about aircraft aerodynamics,” O’Leary said in a statement.
The airline said it is launching a ‘great idiots’ seat sale “especially” for Musk and “any other idiots on X”, offering 100,000 seats for €16.99.
“Buy now before Musk gets one,” Ryanair added.
Elon Musk (left) and Michael O’Leary (right)
News in 90 seconds Wednesday 21 January
The Tesla founder created a poll on the social media platform X, which he owns, asking his followers if he should buy Ryanair and “restore Ryan as their rightful ruler”.
It comes days after he previously made the suggestion amid a feud with the Irish airline over the use of Wi-Fi on flights.
Ryanair’s chief executive Michael O’Leary said in an interview with Newstalk that he would “pay no attention whatsoever” to Mr Musk, labelling him an “idiot” after being asked about Starlink being introduced on planes.
Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary (Stefan Rousseau/PA)
Starlink is a satellite internet system developed by Mr Musk’s aerospace company SpaceX.
Mr O’Leary said it would be too costly as the aerial antenna would drag on the aircraft and “passengers wouldn’t pay for internet usage”.
Mr Musk has since fired back at posts on Ryanair’s X account which mocked the tech mogul over the row.
While his own posts are widely taken to be provocative rather than serious bids, Mr Musk’s takeover of X, formerly Twitter, began with a surprise offer to buy it after he built up a stake.
Elon Musk (left) and Michael O’Leary (right)
News in 90 seconds, Tuesday January 20
Ryanair is listed on the Euronext index in Dublin and its shares have a market capitalisation of around €30.4bn.
The low-cost airline is expecting to fly 207 million passengers over the current financial year.
Ryanair has been approached for comment.