"Come fly with me, let's fly away": Michael O’Leary and Elon Musk have been embroiled in a major argument that began on Musk's platform X and extended to O'Leary's Ryanair. The reason for this sudden show of affection? A fight over Musk’s Starlink WiFi onboard.
Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary could have quoted Frank Sinatra in response to Elon Musk calling him an "utter idiot" on X.
In response, Ryanair boss launched a "Big Idiot" seat sale with cheap flights for Elon and all the other, quote, "idiots," end quote.
But away from the noise, how do their business models actually impact us?
First, the environment. Ryanair's fleet of more than 600 planes emitted over 16 million tonnes of CO2 last year.
Then again, data centres for X and GrokAI are part of an industry that consumes so many resources that, in Ireland and the Netherlands, they threaten drinking water supplies and trigger blackout alerts.
So, neither of them is exactly winning the "Greta Thunberg Award".
Then there are taxes, as both X and Ryanair have Irish headquarters. Ryanair has some 26,000 employees and has paid €173 million in taxes last year.
And X? After the layoffs, they have just over 100 staff left in Dublin. And thanks to reporting a massive loss, their tax bill was near zero.
Finally, Ryanair claims it has a 90% satisfaction rate.
To be fair, X users are also very satisfied — at least that is what the Russian bots say.
Look, both are ruthless. But one is a mogul in the US. The other ... well, is ours.
And honestly, it is hard to imagine flying to Mars for €16.99. So, for that one, people are voting with their legs. Even if there is never any space for them onboard.
Watch the video in the player above for the entire story.