Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary has reminded billionaire Elon Musk that European Union rules prohibit non-Europeans from controlling the Irish airline, in the latest instalment of their public spat.
South African-born Musk, who has US and Canadian citizenship, has run a poll on his X about buying Ryanair.
"Non-European citizens cannot own a majority of European airlines," O'Leary stressed during a Dublin press conference on Wednesday ahead of the company's earnings update next week.
"But if he (Musk) wants to invest in Ryanair, we would think it's a very good investment, certainly a significantly better investment than the financial returns he's earning on X," O'Leary told reporters.
"We want to thank him sincerely for the additional publicity," added the CEO, who, like Musk, is well known for his provocative public comments.
Musk, who founded Tesla and heads Starlink, a satellite internet system developed by his aerospace company SpaceX, has been suggesting for days that he might buy publicly-listed Ryanair, Europe's largest airline by passenger numbers.
It comes after Irishman O'Leary ruled out using Starlink to equip his fleet with wifi, estimating that the drag created by aerial antennae on its planes would cost up to $250 million a year in extra fuel.
Ryanair's passengers would also not want to pay for the internet service, he insisted.
Musk has called for O'Leary's firing, describing him as "a real idiot".
Ryanair has a market value of nearly 30 billion euros ($35 billion). EU regulations stipulate that airlines based in the bloc must be majority-owned by EU citizens, or those of certain European countries outside the European Union.
Musk bought X, then known as Twitter, for $44 billion in 2022.
