Elon Musk has suggested he may buy Ryanair and called for the sacking of its chief executive amid a deepening row between the pair.
The budget airline on Tuesday branded Tesla’s chief executive an “idiot”, and used the unusual line to boost January sales.
Musk and Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary traded insults last week after O’Leary rejected the idea of using Musk’s Starlink technology to provide wi-fi on flights.
The two are among the world’s most brilliant business chiefs, with Musk the world’s richest man with an estimated net worth of $769bn (£573bn), and O’Leary running Europe’s poorest airline.
A statement on Ryanair’s X account on Tuesday evening said: “Perhaps Musk needs to rest??
“Ryanair is launching a Great Idiots seat sale especially for Elon and any other idiots at ‘X’.”
This comes after Musk floated the idea of buying Ryanair several times in X last week, suggesting that O’Leary should be punished for rejecting the use of Starlink to provide wi-fi on Ryanair flights.
EU-based airlines must be majority-owned by people from the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein.
The Irish airline also said O’Leary would hold a press conference in Dublin on Wednesday to “address” Musk’s latest move.
Ryanair’s social media is known for its punchy posts, often poking fun at criticisms of the airline or weighing in on current events.
Last week, after German airline Lufthansa announced it would install Starlink on its planes to give all passengers free wi-fi, O’Leary said Musk knew “zero” about the aerodynamics of flight.
He told Irish radio station Newstalk that passengers don’t want to pay a small fee for wi-fi on a one-hour flight, and that the Starlink hardware will increase fuel costs due to drag.
“We (need) to put an aerial antenna on top of the plane. It will cost us about $200-250m a year, that is extra dollars for every passenger we fly.
“We can’t afford the costs. Passengers don’t pay to use the internet… so we don’t put it up.”
O’Leary called Musk an “idiot”, with Musk using the same insult in response.
The planes are becoming increasingly important for Starlink, a network powered by thousands of satellites in low-earth orbit.
The technology has already been rolled out by airlines such as Qatar Airways and United Airlines.
Both Musk and O’Leary have courted media attention with provocative public statements.