News

Disruption around air travel this summer spurred record levels of passenger traffic on the Eurostar to Paris.

Eurostar communications director Simon Montague has drawn attention to the company's 'outstanding third quarter' in which 2.15 million passengers travelled between July and September.

This was the company's highest-ever figure for the summer period, up 9.9% on 2005.

Eurostar's profits for the same period were up 21% to £130.4 million.

Operations ran smoothly in spite of extra passenger traffic, with 91.4% of trains running on time.

Mr Montague suggested that the summer's travellers were coming back in the autumn.

'Business travellers in particular are continuing to switch to Eurostar from the airlines', he commented, observing that for many the on-board 'environment' was one incentive.

More global environmental concerns, too, may boost Eurostar's future prospects, as green-thinking travellers weigh the train between London and Paris against a plane which disgorges ten times as much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

'Concern about transport emissions', Mr Montague noted, could keep the company's star in the ascendant in coming years.


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