LONDON: Channel tunnel operator Eurostar has its sales up 7 per cent in 2005 to 464 million pounds. The company revealed it carried 7.45 million passengers, which is a 2.5 per cent increase over the previous year, while the number of business customers went up 14 per cent.
Eurostar's chief executive officer Richard Brown said the company's focus on business travellers is paying off. "We're delivering the full premier service they need in order to be prepared for the business day ahead."
The company is estimated to have taken 71 per cent of the London-Paris and 64 per cent of the London-Brussels air and rail travel markets. It is introducing an additional London-Brussels service, its 10th daily weekday service, from 13 February.
The company claimed its punctuality in 2005, at 86.3 per cent, is better than the punctuality rates of airline companies operating on the London/Paris/Brussels routes. According to recent civil aviation industry data, punctuality at Heathrow airport was below 70 per cent.
Eurostar expects more travellers in 2006 with the film on Da Vinci Code set for release and the World Cut football tournament due in June and July.
Eurostar, run by a consortium comprising French state railway company SNCF, Belgian state railway company SNCB and the Eurostar UK Ltd, has reduced the journey time two years ago after opening of a new high speed rail line. It will cut the London-Paris journey time to two hours 15 minutes by 2007.
The company is planning to move its London terminus to Saint Pancras International in 2007.
Eurostar is continues to be unprofitable for its owners, although it is expected to turn in profits by 2008.
Posted
on : Mon, 16 Jan 2006 12:35 GMT | Business News
By : Chris Rowe
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