By Conor Humphries
DUBLIN, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Elon Musk can't buy Ryanair, but any investment would do better than his returns from X, the airline's boss Michael O'Leary said on Wednesday, in the latest round of a public spat that O'Leary said was helping Ryanair's bookings.
A social media war of words has flared in recent days after O'Leary ruled out using Musk's Starlink internet service on Ryanair's fleet of more than 600 jets.
The outspoken airline boss called Musk an idiot, while the U.S. billionaire
branded O'Leary an "insufferable accountant".
Musk then suggested he might buy Europe's largest airline by passenger numbers and "put someone whose actual name is Ryan in charge". He posted a poll on X and asked his followers to vote on the plan. Around three-quarters approved.
'TWITTER TANTRUM'
O'Leary told a press conference that Ryanair would be a good investment for Musk, but said European Union rules restricting foreign ownership of airlines meant a takeover was out of the question.
"If he wants to invest in Ryanair, we would think it's a very good investment, certainly a significantly better investment than the financial returns he's earning on X," O'Leary said, taunting Musk over the performance of his social media platform.
Addressing what he called Musk's "Twitter tantrum", O'Leary said the publicity was providing a "wonderful boost" for bookings.
"They're up about 2% or 3% in the last five days, which, given our volumes, is a very significant boost," he said.
Ryanair's shares have been little moved during the feud, suggesting most investors are not taking Musk's takeover threat seriously, though he did ask his social media followers before buying X, previously Twitter.
O'Leary said he had held talks with Starlink for 12 months as he considered enabling onboard WiFi but the cost was too high for Ryanair. He said he was seeking a provider willing to invest in installation, and that the two sides disagreed sharply on how many passengers would pay for access.
"The Starlink people believe that 90% of our passengers would happily pay for WiFi access. Our experience, sadly tells us we think less than 10% of our passengers would pay for this access," he said.
Last week, O'Leary ruled out equipping any Ryanair jets with Starlink, citing the impact of fuel costs from drag caused by the antenna and estimating the service could cost the airline up to $250 million a year.
(Reporting by Conor Humphries. Writing by Sarah Young. Editing by Paul Sandle and Mark Potter)
