BUSINESS passengers are shunning the plane and taking the train for the trip from London to Paris, according to Eurostar, which saw a 14 per cent increase in sales of business-class tickets last year.
The train operator, which slashed journey times two years ago after the opening of a new high-speed rail line, is claiming to have 71 per cent of the market share of air and rail routes between London and Paris.
This comes as the UK’s two full-service airlines have taken an axe to their business-class sections on short-haul flights.
Bmi british midland scrapped its business class service last year and British Airways last week announced that it was dropping business class on its regional services from March.
Eurostar sales last year totalled £463.8 million, The Times has learnt, up 7 per cent on the year before. The train operator, which is owned jointly by the French and Belgian railways, carried 7.45 million travellers in total last year, up 2.4 per cent on 2004.
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Richard Brown, chief executive of Eurostar, said: “Our focus on business travellers is paying off. As some airlines cut out their business-class cabins, they’re also cutting out their customers.”
Eurostar executives have speculated that the train service could eliminate competition from airlines between London and Paris completely within five years. Two years ago Eurostar had a 61 per cent share of the London to Paris market.
The greatest surge in passenger numbers for Eurostar is expected after 2007, when the journey time to Paris will be just 2¼ hours. However, Eurostar is still unprofitable for its owners, although SNCF, the French state-owned railway company that has a 50 per cent stake, expects it to become profitable in 2008, a year earlier than had been expected.
With check-in times of ten minutes for business class passengers and delivery to the centre of Paris, Eurostar says that it is confident of wiping out any time advantage of catching an aeroplane.
However, chief executives who wish to vist more than one business centre in a day would find the easiest way to travel was to hire a private business jet. “For a single meeting in Paris, I would take the train but if you want to fly to meetings in Paris, Geneva and Frankfurt in a single day, the only way to do it is by business jet,” David Savile, chief executive of Air Partner, the quoted charter and business jet company, said.
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At just £2,750 for a five -seat London-Paris-London aeroplane, a business jet is also very competitive for a group of business people travelling together.
This year, Eurostar expects to benefit from more travellers visiting London and Paris after the release of the film of the bestseller, The Da Vinci Code. Bookings on the train service are also expected to be strengthened by football fans travelling to and from the World Cup in Germany in June and July.
A spokesman for BA said: “We fly ten times a day from Heathrow [to Paris], and Paris is also served by our regional airports. We are a network carrier and many business travellers will still find it easier to fly to Paris and to take advantage of their ability to use our lounges and check in online.”
Bmi british midland said that its decision to withdraw its business class cabin was not down to Eurostar. “The cross-channel market is extremely competitive and lots of changes have been made at bmi to try and combat this,” it said.
Eurostar continues to make detailed plans for its move to St Pancras International, which is likely to be halfway through 2007. When that happens, the entire train service will run from St Pancras and the train services’ leaving platforms at Waterloo will be converted for use by national trains.
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Take the train:
Taxi from Bank, in the City, to Waterloo station: (25 mins) £12
Check-in (allow 30 mins)
Train to Gare du Nord (2hrs 35 mins): £319
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Total (3hrs 30 mins): £331
Stress factor: “Absolutely zero,” according to Steve Keenan, travel editor of Times Online. “You jump on the train, you do your work on your laptop, there’s wi-fi, coffee, and you get off in the middle of Paris.”
Take the plane:
Taxi from City to Paddington (40 mins): £16
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Train from Paddington to Heathrow (15 mins): £14
Check-in (allow 45 mins)
Flight to Charles de Gaulle (1hr 15 mins): £516 (£202 non-flexible)
Taxi from CDG to Paris (45 mins): £40
Total (3 hrs 40 mins): £573
Stress factor: “Vast,” says Keenan. “You have to get to Paddington, check in two hours early and get the train into the middle of Paris.”