Sales revenues rise at Eurostar as passengers flock to new routes
EUROSTAR, the rail service that links the UK to mainland Europe, said yesterday that passenger numbers and sales revenues both grew in the first half of 2013.
Passenger numbers rose by two per cent year-on-year to 4.9m and sales revenues grew by seven per cent to £453m in the first half of the year.
The company said poor weather in the first quarter of this year had hit services, but that more than 200 extra services had since been added to help meet the upcoming summer demand.
Passenger growth has been particularly strong in the second quarter, with traffic up four per cent year-on-year, the firm said.
“We have delivered a strong performance in the first half of 2013, characterised by new routes, extra services and increasing sales revenues,” said Nicolas Petrovic, chief executive.
Revenue from leisure sales rose by eight per cent in the six months to 30 June, as a partnership providing links into the Swiss Alps and a new route to Aix-en-Provence helped drive growth.