THOUSANDS of Ryanair customers are being turned away because Dublin does not have enough hotel beds, the airline's commercial director, Mr Tim Jeans, has claimed. Dublin hoteliers refuse to accept there is a abed shortage but the rates they are charging suggest there is a serious scarcity, according to Mr Jeans.

Ryanair's ability to keep costs down is linked to growth in volume, Mr Jeans said. That growth was being threatened by the refusal of Dublin hoteliers to invest in the capital, he added. "The problem is partly attitudinal: the hoteliers believe there are enough beds. But we can point to thousands of customers who have been turned away. It's regarded as heresy to say this."

Mr Jeans also said that only an inability to get suitable aircraft prevented Ryanair from starting services this summer to continental Europe from its main London base at Stansted. Ryanair has said it would begin services to the continent from Ireland only if Aer Rianta lowered its tariffs at Dublin Airport or if Ryanair was allowed to develop a commercial airport at Baldonnell.

Aer Rianta has always claimed that its tariffs are competitive. Mr Jeans said the figures Aer Rianta quotes for landing charges and other fees relate to incentives it offers to new airlines or new services by existing ones. According to Mr Jeans, Dublin Airport is more expensive than Gatwick.

He also criticised the decision by Aer Lingus to begin serving Stansted from next week. He said the company felt "somewhat aggrieved" that Aer Lingus should use the State equity it had received to buy an aircraft to compete on a route that Ryanair had built up over a number of difficult years. Aer Lingus does not intend, however, to compete's with Ryanair on price.

Ryanair is launching three new routes from Dublin to Bournemouth, Leeds Bradford and Cardiff today. It expects to carry 250,000 scheduled passengers on the routes in 1996, according to Mr Jeans. Total passengers in the current year will be over three million compared with 2.2 million in 1995, he said.