Lisbon, Jan. 28, 2026 (Lusa) - Ryanair's chief executive officer said on Wednesday that the company is expanding its maintenance hangars in Porto as part of its increased investment in Portugal, and commented that Elon Musk is welcome to join the company's shareholder structure.
When asked by Lusa whether future investments in Portugal, such as training centres, were out of the question, the chief executive replied: "No. We have a large IT [Information Technology] development centre located in Lisbon."
In addition, Michael O'Leary added that the company is strengthening its presence in the north of the country. "We are expanding the maintenance hangars in Porto," he said.
According to the CEO, Portugal continues to play an important role in the company's strategy. "Portugal is one of Ryanair's fastest-growing markets," he said, adding that the airline "carries more passengers to and from Portugal than any other airline."
Ryanair currently has "30 aircraft based here in Portugal, between Faro, Porto, Lisbon and Funchal," representing "an investment of US$3 billion (€2.5 billion) in Portugal." "We want to double from 30 to 60 aircraft,’ he said, which would raise the investment to "US$6 billion (about €5 billion)".
"The biggest challenge here in Portugal is the artificially limited capacity at Portela," (Lisbon airport) said the Ryanair CEO, considering that "Lisbon is small because capacities are sufficiently limited so that the government can protect TAP".
According to the CEO, Ryanair has "12 aircraft based in Faro, but only four in Lisbon," arguing that the capital could grow rapidly. "Lisbon today, if Ryanair were allowed to have more aircraft here, could grow to more than 40 million passengers in the next five years," he said.
The CEO also criticised the lack of political decision-making. "The minister of infrastructure should be addressing the reason why he has failed to increase Portela's capacity, because he has not opened Montijo," he said, accusing successive governments of "standing idly by".
Despite the criticism, he stressed that Portugal remains strategic for the company. "Portugal represents one of Ryanair's fastest-growing markets," he said.
Asked about the possibility of Ryanair being up for sale after a public confrontation with Elon Musk, he replied that the company is "a company listed on the stock market". "People are free to buy our shares on the US and European stock markets," he said.
"Anyone is welcome to buy our shares," he added, stressing, however, that Elon Musk "cannot acquire Ryanair because, as a European airline, we must be majority-owned and controlled by European citizens".
Still, he left an ironic comment: "We would welcome his entry into the shareholder structure. It would be a very positive investment for him and for all our shareholders. It would be a much better investment for him [Musk] than the X social network has been."
The tensions between the two come after the Ryanair boss last week rejected Elon Musk's Starlink satellite network to equip his fleet with Wi-Fi, with the billionaire suggesting on his social network X that he would buy the airline.
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Lusa
