The operator of the Channel Tunnel was given a summer boost by the popularity of Eurostar’s high-speed Amsterdam link.
Eurostar broke monthly and quarterly records in the three months to September 30 with a 4% year-on-year increase in traffic to 3.1 million passengers.
This was driven by a third daily London-Amsterdam service and a rise in London-Paris carryings.
Eurostar handled more than 8.4 million passengers through the Channel Tunnel in the first nine months of the year.
Eurotunnel owner Getlink reported that its Shuttle car carryings declined marginally by 1% to under 900,000 in the three months.
Passenger Shuttles in the January to September period “largely outperformed” a difficult market with its share up by 2.5 percentage points to 55.8% despite a 2% fall in car traffic.
Eurotunnel’s total revenue was stable at €273.3 million in the quarter while Shuttle revenue fell by 2% to €185.8 million and railway network [Eurostar] up 4% to €83.9 million.
Getink said its third quarter was marked by strong performance in each of the group’s segments, “maintaining its pricing power”.
The group confirmed its medium-term objectives of €735 million in earnings [ebitda] by 2022 “even in the current context of the Brexit negotiations”.