"Speaking at a press conference in Dublin, O'Leary said Ryanair staff were travelling to Musk's X office to hand-deliver the ticket after the Tesla and SpaceX boss took "great umbrage" at comments O'Leary made about Starlink Wi-Fi on aircraft. O'Leary said the airline's latest seat sale dubbed the "Big Idiot Seat Sale" had attracted more than three million hits since launching, with bookings up between 2pc and 3pc in recent days."
"O'Leary said Ryanair had been in talks with Starlink for over 12 months and described the system as "terrific", but said the economics simply did not stack up for a short-haul, low-fare airline. According to O'Leary, installing Starlink on Ryanair's fleet would cost between €150m and €250m a year once installation, maintenance and additional fuel burn were factored in. "Our experience tells us that less than 10pc of passengers would pay for Wi-Fi, actually probably less like 5pc," O'Leary said."
Michael O'Leary said an exchange with Elon Musk generated "fantastic publicity" and drove more than three million hits to a promoted "Big Idiot Seat Sale", with bookings up 2–3%. Ryanair staff planned to hand-deliver a ticket to Musk's X office after Musk took "great umbrage" at comments about Starlink Wi-Fi. Ryanair had been in talks with Starlink for over 12 months and described the system as "terrific", but said the economics did not suit a short-haul, low-fare carrier. Installation, maintenance and additional fuel burn from external aerials would cost an estimated €150m–€250m annually. Fewer than 10%, probably about 5%, of passengers would pay for Wi-Fi, making the investment uneconomic.
Read at Irish Independent
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