Eurostar garners £178m in ticket sales in Q1

Channel tunnel train operator Eurostar achieved sales revenue of £178 million in the first three months of 2010, compared with £168 million for the same period in 2009.

Published: 13 Apr 2010

Channel tunnel train operator Eurostar achieved sales revenue of £178 million in the first three months of 2010, compared with £168 million for the same period in 2009.

Passenger numbers for the first three months of this year topped two million, up from 1.9 million in the first quarter of last year.

The performance was boosted by a 22 percent rise in passengers from markets outside Europe.

The number of leisure passengers travelling between the UK and the continent rose six percent to 1.76 million. Business traveller numbers remained flat in the first quarter of 2010.

“Whilst there is still uncertainty about the economic outlook, we have seen a big increase in leisure travel over the last three months, not just from the continent but from overseas markets,” Eurostar chief executive Nicolas Petrovic said in the statement. “We are also seeing growing evidence of travellers wanting to switch from plane to high-speed train for longer, connecting journeys.”

The first quarter has emerged as a positive development for the company, which was in news for its passengers suffering massive disruption in December as winter weather caused trains to stop working.

It has been highlighted that while passenger numbers are still off their high point of 2.17 million in the first quarter of 2008, sales for the three months are roughly in line with two years ago before the economic bubble burst.

Challenge

According to a report filed by timesonline.co.uk, the service may yet face its biggest challenge as the likes of Deutsche Bahn take advantage of upcoming “open access”, which will allow the German company to break Eurostar's monopoly and run passenger services through the tunnel.

Ahead of that challenge Eurostar is aiming to put its ownership structure on to a more commercial footing.

Petrovic reportedly said: “We are moving closer to the new corporate structure which will streamline decision-making, deliver consistency of service standards across the three countries and ensure that the business is well placed to compete in an open access world.”

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