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Eurostar dropping London to Disneyland service next year

Eurostar have announced that from the 5th of June 2023 they are discontinuing the loss making Disneyland services from London St Pancras.

Posted by
5466 posts

Easier for them to offer connections via Lille. For the customers not so much.

Posted by
34003 posts

hard to seperate covid from Brexit

Posted by
5554 posts

Is that a Brexit decision or an outright financial decision?

It's a loss making route therefore it's a financial decision. I really can't think of a reason why Brexit would have an impact.

Posted by
34003 posts

It is possible, JC, staffing levels are down and standard of living in the bog for a variety of reasons, so fewer users of the service so cancel it so even fewer users? We are in so many spirals these days it is difficult to unpick one from the other...

Posted by
470 posts

Its is Brexit related . An Arrival/ Departure point where numbers don't justify extra costs coming down the line.
Further border checks to come, photo and finger prints and payment for ETIAS at cost of 7 Euros
When these will actually start is not known

Posted by
5554 posts

payment for ETIAS at cost of 7 Euros

Considering this hasn't been implemented yet it's fair to say that it hasn't played a role in the loss making of the London - Disney route.

My view is that if you want to travel to Disneyland Paris, particularly with pestering kids, then border checks are not going to be a reason not to go. Passport checks have apparently had no impact on the number of Brits travelling to Spain or elswhere so I see no reason why the checks at Eurostar would be any different.

Eurostar is still laden with large amounts of debt as it continues to recover from the pandemic so it has decided to focus on its more profitable routes. There were only 4 weekly services from London to DLP as opposed to 14 daily journeys to Paris, those have not been cut so evidently there can't be much of an issue for passengers on that route. It appears these days that it's all too easy to blame issues on Brexit than to reveal the true reasons.

If the UK removed the right for US citizens to use the passport E-Gates and instead go through the alternative method of a manned border check how many tourists would decide not to travel to the UK as a result? I really don't think border checks are that big an issue in the grand scheme of things. Sure, it's not as seamless travelling to the EU from the UK these days but from my experience of travelling so far there has been very minimal impact.

Posted by
5466 posts

Eurostar have to pay for the immigration and customs operations at all of the stations they operate from. Hence withdrawal from all of the low usage stations such as Ashford & Ebbsfleet as well. The future of the ski train must also be in doubt.