Teslaconomics@Teslaconomics
Many people think Elon is joking when he says he’s thinking about buying Ryanair.
At first, it may look like classic Elon humor. But if you look a little closer, there’s more going on here than just a joke.
This all started with a public back-and-forth on 𝕏.
Ryanair’s CEO, Michael O’Leary, criticized the cost of installing Starlink internet on planes, calling it too expensive and not worth it for a budget airline. Elon fired back, called him an idiot, and when someone suggested Elon should just buy Ryanair and replace him, Elon said, “Good idea.” He even added fire to it with a joke saying he wants to put someone actually named Ryan in charge. So funny tbh...
Many are now asking me, is Elon actually going to buy Ryanair?
Elon has a long history of poking CEOs publicly. Ryanair would most likely cost $50B+ to acquire, which he could afford, but tbh it would be a massive distraction from his other companies like Tesla imo.
But at the same time I can’t help but to ask myself why does he want to buy it? There’s gotta be some reason…
When you research Ryanair, you realize it’s not a small airline. It’s the LARGEST airline in Europe by passenger count, flying over 180 million people a year, across 250+ destinations, with a fleet of roughly 570 Boeing 737s. It runs on extreme efficiency, fast turnarounds, high aircraft usage, solid cost control… Whether you like the brand or not, it’s a MAJOR airline.
And that’s why I don’t think this is a random target.
If Elon ever were to buy Ryanair, the biggest immediate win would be Starlink. Ryanair already charges for WiFi, and the experience is slow and unreliable. On the other hand, Starlink offers fast, low latency internet almost anywhere on Earth. Putting it on Ryanair’s massive fleet would instantly make it the largest Starlink airline deployment in the world.
Michael O’Leary keeps complaining about install costs, and it’s an opportunity for Elon to erase these false claims by installing it across its entire fleet and show real world proof that it beats every other in-flight internet provider, hands down.
Then if you go deeper, the synergies get kinda interesting…
Ryanair’s scale could plug into future SpaceX ideas like ultra fast point-to-point travel. Its airports could adopt Tesla energy storage, electric ground vehicles, or even autonomous systems over time. Its operational data could feed AI models inside xAI to optimize logistics, pricing, and maintenance, and more…
Of course it doesn’t mean this will happen, but it doesn’t hurt to scheme about what’s going on and why Elon is doing this.
Yea, the post may seem like a joke, but it’s very intentional imo.
It exposes old school airline thinking versus a future built on connectivity, efficiency, and scale. Ryanair happens to be one of the few airlines big enough to actually matter in that future.
As for me, I’m fine if he buys Ryanair it’s just I don’t want to see Elon lose his focus bc he already has so much on his plate.
Everyone get your popcorn ready.
