This week, Aer Lingus and Ryanair engaged in some friendly banter on Twitter. The two Irish carriers took digs at each other, to the delight of many of their followers.

The initial blow

It was Aer Lingus that took the first jab. On September 29th, the flag carrier of Ireland retweeted a comedy sketch shared by RTÉ presenter Carl Mullan. The video compared the landing process of the two airlines.

Mullan first acted as a passenger of Aer Lingus, sleeping through the smooth and gentle landing procedure. However, in the next clip, he portrayed a Ryanair passenger being shaken by a bouncy landing.

When retweeting the video, the Aer Lingus admin signed off by stating, "True story." Many of the airline's followers laughed at the joke, but several individuals expressed their support for Ryanair.

Striking back

Nonetheless, Ryanair wasn't going to take things lying down. The low-cost carrier replied by asking its compatriot what it knew about landings, sharing a picture comparing the number of flights that the two airlines have in the skies. The image ultimately shows that there are significantly fewer Aer Lingus aircraft in the air. This single tweet nonetheless summarizes the impact that the current social and political climate is having on the aviation industry.

Again, there were laughs in the responses. However, a chunk of the replies to both airlines was regarding refunds that customers were waiting on. Meanwhile, there were a few comments showing that passengers were unhappy that the two operators were putting each other down while the Irish aviation industry continues to struggle amid the global health crisis.

Twitter fingers

This isn't the first time that airlines have had a go at each other on Twitter. For instance, when United Airlines was under fire for its policy on the wearing of leggings in 2017, Delta Air Lines tweeted the following:

At other times, Twitter has been used to show solidarity among airlines. In April, several India-based carriers took part in a series of lighthearted exchanges amid the mass groundings of flights due to the ongoing suspensions. They were all expressing the need to stay safe while the pandemic was starting to escalate in the country.

Altogether, it's unlikely that the management of both Aer Lingus and Ryanair would have been too dismayed by the tweets. Understandably, they are just trying to get an edge on each other with some humor.

Simple Flying reached out to Ryanair and Aer Lingus for comment. We will update the article with any further announcements.

What are your thoughts about the jokes between Aer Lingus and Ryanair on Twitter? Do you know of any other airlines that have had similar tweets about each other in the past? Let us know what you think in the comment section.