Michael O’Leary has never been one to mince his words. The Ryanair Group chief executive isn’t exactly a shrinking violet, but his volleys are usually aimed at a rotating cast of characters: the Government, the European Union, DAA, other European carriers and French air traffic controllers.
So it’s been notable this week to see him turn his verbal cannons at Donald Trump and Elon Musk. In an interview with Politico, O’Leary lashed the US president, calling him “liar” who is “historically wrong” on most of the major issues of today.
“I don’t have any faith or trust in Trump, who has proven himself to be again and again a liar,” he said.
In this day and age it’s relatively unusual to see a business leader come out so bluntly against Trump, but so far the US president does not seem to have made any public comment on O’Leary’s views.
That’s not the case with Musk, though.
Earlier in the week, O’Leary told Newstalk he didn’t plan on using Starlink for an in-flight internet service, citing its impact on the fuel economy of its planes. Starlink is, of course, led by Musk.
“He is being misinformed,” the billionaire responded in a post on X. “I doubt they can even measure the difference in fuel use accurately, especially for a one-hour flight, where the incremental drag is basically zero during the ascent phase due to high angle of attack.”
That got short shrift from O’Leary, though.
“I would pay no attention whatsoever to Elon Musk,” O’Leary said. “He’s an idiot, very wealthy, but he’s still an idiot.”
It seems those comments made it way back to Musk. The billionaire planted his flag with a post on X on Friday describing O’Leary as “an idiot”.
“Fire him,” he said.
Famously, neither man seems to have walked away from a row willingly. Where it goes from here is anyone’s guess.
But it’s fair to say the Irish man is unlikely to back down from a verbal spat with the Tesla boss.