Aer Lingus was alerted to a tweet sent by Ryanair of an online ad with a plane flying in the background, which turned out to be actually an Aer Lingus aircraft. Soon after, the Twitter fun began.
Epic #photobomb by EI-DVM on Ryanair’s website! Even they know we’re Best for Business pic.twitter.com/mYgDFbpg6P
— Aer Lingus (@AerLingus) January 15, 2015
Despite actually being the single largest shareholder in Aer Lingus, Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary turned on the airline after it pointed out that Ryanair had inadvertently used a photo of one of its planes for an advert. Not taking kindly to having this oversight pointed out, Ryanair took the next shot:
Even @AerLingus is talking about @Ryanair Business Plus. FYI, he’s smiling cos he saved a fortune & avoided another late @AerLingus arrival!
— Ryanair (@Ryanair) January 15, 2015
After one Twitter user asked whether this was all just harmless banter or genuine rivalry, Ryanair’s marketing team then went one further:
We stopped being rivals in the 90s @AerLingus @ReallyDes. We’d have to treble our fares & lose 81m customers to be your rival #EuropesNo1
— Ryanair (@Ryanair) January 15, 2015
The Twitter exchange comes as Ryanair celebrates it’s 30th year, an occasion marked by the introduction of a new corporate logo.
