Ryanair director slams EU policy in wake of public Musk feud

Michael O’Leary, the chief of Europe’s largest airline Ryanair, has found himself in the global spotlight after he used a recent online clash with billionaire Elon Musk to boost publicity and ticket sales, while also airing strong views on European and global politics during a press conference in Dublin this week.

Speaking from the city where the airline’s headquarters, O’Leary took aim at a broad range of issues, from EU climate rules to US trade policy, according to an article published by Euractiv. 

He called for a rollback of carbon pricing regulations on intra-EU flights and urged Europe to adopt a more “belligerent foreign policy” in response to trade threats from US President Donald Trump.

“If Trump threatens Europe with tariffs, Europe should respond in like measure“, O’Leary said, despite Ryanair being a major purchaser of US-made aircraft.

The Ryanair boss also criticized European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, arguing that Brussels should prioritize fixing deficiencies in air traffic control and reforming environmental legislation. In particular, he took issue with the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), which requires only intra-EU flights to pay for their CO₂ emissions.

“It is indefensible that we only tax our own citizens and exempt everybody else,” O’Leary said. He added that the EU ETS should be aligned with the less ambitious and cheaper international carbon offset scheme known as Corsia.

O’Leary’s remarks followed several days of heated online exchanges between Ryanair and Elon Musk, a former ally of Trump. The dispute erupted after O’Leary ruled out installing Musk’s Starlink system to provide in-flight Wi-Fi, citing costs of approximately €200–250 million per year and increased fuel consumption caused by additional drag.

Despite the spat, O’Leary seemingly offered an olive branch, offering Musk a free plane ticket as thanks for the “wonderful boost in publicity.” He also noted that EU regulations prevent non-Europeans from holding a controlling stake in EU airlines — a fierce response to Musk’s previous suggestion that he could buy Ryanair and replace its CEO.

The Irish executive also weighed in on social media regulation, calling on both EU and US policymakers to ban online anonymity — a sensitive issue for Musk, who owns the platform formerly known as Twitter.

O’Leary further criticized X over an ongoing controversy involving its AI tool Grok, which allows users to digitally ‘undress’ images of women and children.

“I don’t understand why governments don’t make it illegal. That’s nothing to do with freedom of speech,” he said.

By Nazrin Sadigova