Fuel crisis boosts Eurostar sales
The soaring cost of fuel and heightened environmental concerns has led to healthy half year results for Eurostar.
The cross channel operator reports a 24.7% increase on ticket sales between January and June this year compared to last with traveller numbers reaching 4.63 million, an 18.3% year-on-year increase.
It added that a significant chunk of the boosted sales was thanks to better links with St Pancras from areas north of London. Cities that saw the strongest growth in Eurostar travellers are Derby (up 190%), Nottingham (up 131%), Sheffield (up 128%), York (up 127%), Leicester (up 113%), Newcastle (up 107%), Leeds (up 99%) and Birmingham (up 70%)
The operator said 92.6% of its trains arrived on time or early in the first six months of 2008 and compares this with the 62.3% score of competing airlines.
Eurostar chief executive Richard Brown said: “The impact of rising oil prices on air fares, combined with growing awareness of the much greater environmental impact of flying, are causing more and more travellers to switch from plane to train.
“However, whilst we expect traveller numbers and ticket revenues to continue to rise, it is clear that the wider economic environment is deteriorating and we expect that the rate of growth will slow in the second half of the year.â€
A Report by Dinah Hatch
John Alwyn-Jones
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