Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary joked that he and Elon Musk should settle their spat with an arm wrestle “like old farts do” after the billionaire hinted that he would buy the budget airline.
The airline’s CEO and the X owner have been trading jabs after Mr O’Leary ruled out equipping planes with the Starlink satellite internet service.
Speaking to The Independent travel correspondent Simon Calder, Mr O’Leary encouraged Mr Musk to buy as many shares as he likes in the company, though stressed he would never be able to buy it under EU law.
In 1992, Herb Kelleher, co-founder of low-cost Southwest Airlines, challenged another aviation boss to a public arm-wrestling match in Dallas to settle a dispute over who could use the slogan “Just plane smart”.
