Rail passengers between London and Glasgow have risen by 55% since Virgin Trains introduced its high speed tilting trains in December 2005.
Tony Collins, Virgin Trains' ceo, told a conference on high speed rail that in the same period, the number of people flying on the route had dropped by 3.6% according to CAA figures.
While airlines still attract the majority of passengers on this route, Mr Collins said the new figures were the "first signs of rail's potential to make a real difference on the route."
Since the introduction of the Pendolino trains on the Manchester-London route, rail share, compared with air, has risen from 38% to 61%.
Mr Collins also said that Virgin trains were achieving a better punctuality record than airlines with 85.8% arriving on time compared with the best airline, BMI which had 77.5% of its planes on time.
The best rail journey time on the London-Glasgow route is four hours 24 minutes. This is due to come down to four hours 10 minutes by December 2008.
A BA flight from Heathrow to Glasgow takes about one hour 20 minutes.