Eurostar and SkyTeam to offer joint tickets

High-speed train operator Eurostar and the airline alliance SkyTeam will work together to offer integrated tickets. They have signed a memorandum of understanding to this end.

The intention is to offer joint trips combining long- and medium-haul flights on the one hand and Eurostar train rides on the other, starting in the first half of 2025.

From plane to train

SkyTeam is the alliance of some 20 airlines, including Air France, Delta Air Lines, ITA Airways, KLM, and SAS, as well as China Airlines and Aerolíneas Argentinas. For the first time, it is entering into a partnership with a rail company.

By teaming up with Eurostar to offer trips that combine long- and medium-haul flights on the one hand and train journeys on the other, SkyTeam’s major hubs in France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom will thus be even more smoothly connected to Eurostar destinations in Europe.

Currently, around 13% of Eurostar passengers flying long-haul into one of SkyTeam’s main European hubs connect to another Eurostar destination by rail. Exactly how the integration will happen will be worked out in the coming months.

51 trains for 28 destinations

Dutch airline KLM already sells airline tickets, including Eurostar train tickets between Schiphol Airport and Brussels-South or Antwerp-Central. That partnership dates to 2019 under Thalys, which has since merged with Eurostar. Air France did the same for its Belgian and French customers.

Eurostar, which has a fleet of 51 trains, serves 28 destinations in Belgium, Germany, France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom and carried 18,6 million passengers last year.

Its ambition is to grow to 30 million passengers a year. Just under a fifth of the HST operator is owned by the Belgian railroad company NMBS/SNCB. Eurostar’s operational center is also located in Brussels.

Last week, Eurostar chief Gwendoline Cazenave threatened to leave the Netherlands out of dissatisfaction with the state of the Dutch high-speed line, among other things. According to experts, however, this was not a serious threat but more of a negotiating tactic to reach reasonable agreements with Dutch rail operator ProRail.

By choosing the train, CO2 emissions are reduced by an average of 95% compared with a journey by air.