Q1 passenger numbers suffer
Eurostar has reported a 20% decline in sales from business travel in the first quarter 2009 year-on-year.
The train operator said both sales revenue and passenger numbers had been "significantly affected" by September's tunnel fire and the resulting service reductions.
Eurostar blamed the global economic downturn for a decline in business travel as corporates look to tighten belts.
"The global economic downturn has also had a particular impact on business traffic with demand reducing and customers down-trading," said Eurostar.
Overall sales fell to £168.1m (€190.6m) down 5.8% from £178.5m (€202.4m) last year.
The decline was reflected in the number of passengers carried between Britain and mainland Europe - 1.92 million travellers compared to 2.17 million in 2008, down 11.5%.
Richard Brown, Eurostar's chief executive, said costs would be reduced to meet "new economic realities."
"We are also preparing for the challenges and opportunities of on-rail competition from January 2010," he said.
"We are determined to continue growing our markets and we will be fully ready to compete head-on with any new competitor on our routes."
Eurostar is currently the only operator on the high speed link between London and Paris and Brussels.
But last month Air France began informal talks with German train operator Deutsche Bahn on the possibility of launching a rival service.
www.eurostar.com