Budget airline Ryanair said it has no plans to install Starlink connectivity on its planes, with SpaceX boss Elon Musk immediately weighing in on social media.
“We don’t think our passengers are willing to pay for Wi-Fi for an average one-hour flight,” Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary.
This sparked a response from Musk: “They will lose customers to airlines that do have internet.”
Rolling out Wi-Fi connectivity across the Ryanair would be a major undertaking.
The airline has a fleet of nearly 650 aircraft, carrying more than 200 million passengers a year.
Using Ryanair’s low-cost, add-on pricing model, the price of Wi-Fi could be as expensive as some of its cheapest advance purchase airfares.
The airline hasn’t contemplated offering free inflight Wi-Fi as some major airlines have done.
O’Leary said installing Starlink antennas would add a significant amount to its overall fuel costs. Starlink denied this, saying it would be less than 1%.
