'PR spat': Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary says 'big idiot' row with Elon Musk has boosted airline's sales
Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has claimed his recent spat with Elon Musk has increased sales for the budget airline.
A row erupted last week between Mr O’Leary and Elon Musk over whether the tech billionaire’s Starlink internet system could be used to provide wifi on Ryanair flights.
After Mr O’Leary said this was not feasible, Mr Musk called Mr O’Leary an “idiot” and “chimp” and mused on X whether he should buy the airline.
Mr O’Leary claimed the “PR spat” had driven a 2 per cent to 3 per cent increase in sales.
It comes as Ryanair upped its annual outlook for passenger growth and said full-year profits should increase as it revealed air fares were rising by more than expected.
The budget Irish airline flew 47.5 million passengers in the third quarter, up 6 per cent year on year, and said it now expects 2025-26 passenger growth of 4 per cent to almost 208 million due to strong demand and earlier than expected Boeing plane deliveries.
This is up from previous guidance for 207 million passengers.
Average fares rose 4 per cent to 44 euros (£38.18) in its third quarter to the end of December and the carrier said it now expects fares to rise by up to about 9 per cent, against the 7 per cent increase previously forecast.
Ryanair said it is “cautiously guiding” for full-year underlying profits after tax of 2.13 billion to 2.23 billion euros (£1.84 billion to £1.93 million).
It reported underlying profits after tax of 1.61 billion euros (£1.42 billion) the previous year.
The forecast comes despite its third-quarter figures showing profits tumbled as it set aside money for a competition fine in Italy.
Ryanair saw pre-tax profits plunge 83 per cent to 24.4 million euros (£21.2 million) as it put aside the provision following a 256 million euro (£222 million) fine in December by Italy’s competition watchdog for allegedly using an “abusive strategy” to hinder third-party travel agencies.
The regulator claimed in its ruling that the low-cost airline deliberately made it difficult for agencies to buy flights on its website between April 2023 and at least April 2025.
Ryanair said it was “confident” the “baseless” fine would be overturned on appeal. With the provision stripped out, underlying net profits fell 22 per cent to 115.4 million euros (£100.1 million).
On the outlook, Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said: “While the fourth quarter doesn’t benefit from Easter, fares are trending ahead of prior year and we now believe full-year fares will exceed the 7 per cent growth previously guided by 1 per cent or 2 per cent.”
He added: “Industry capacity constraints, combined with our widening cost advantage, strong balance sheet, low-cost aircraft orderbook and industry-leading operations resilience will, we believe, facilitate Ryanair’s controlled profitable growth to 300 million passengers a year by 2033-34.”