What is your state of mind when you take over the Thalys?
Franck Gervais - I'm lucky enough to be joining a company with a good product and excellent teams. My ambition is for Thalys to remain a leader and a model for high-speed rail transport in Europe. Thalys must remain at the forefront of innovation and develop new offers for customers while retaining its fundamentals. This should help us to respond to the imminent arrival of competition.
How is Thalys doing in 2011?
F. G. - At the end of May, our traffic was 6 % up on 2010. The increase is greater in Comfort 1 than in second class. This reflects the return of business customers. The occupancy rate averaged 75 % across our entire network, with peaks of 78 % in Cologne and Amsterdam. It reaches 71 % in Brussels, where we offer no fewer than 25 daily return flights.
Do you have any plans to open new routes?
F. G. - From 29 August, a Thalys train will continue beyond Cologne to serve Düsseldorf in 3 hours 47 minutes, and Duisburg and Essen in 4 hours 18 minutes. These cities represent significant potential. I want to increase our market share against air travel in these cities, to repeat the success achieved in Amsterdam, where our market share stands at 70 % and continues to grow steadily. The aim is to increase this to three daily return trips between Paris and Essen. We are also finalising the launch of another route this autumn, which will enable Thalys to expand beyond its current network.
What else can you offer business customers?
F. G. - Ticket flexibility is the main demand of business travellers. 30 % of them use the exchange facility and take a different train from the one they booked. This flexibility will be enhanced by the introduction of Mobile Ticketing, which will save passengers having to reprint their tickets. 20 % of our passengers already travel by "ticketless. Since 15 June, the ticket has been sent in the form of a flashcode to the smartphones of loyal customers who are members of The Card programme.
Then, from September, this service will be extended to all Thalys customers with this type of mobile. In addition, with an availability rate of 97 % on the network, WiFi is popular and used by 35 % of our customers. We are also constantly improving our catering offer, which - like WiFi - is included in the price of the Comfort 1 ticket. Finally, the Salon is a product in the launch phase that we need to make better known to our corporate customers.
How do you plan to prepare Thalys for the competition?
F. G. - Our aim is to be the best so that Thalys remains the customer's preferred carrier in the future. To achieve this, we need to create a strong attachment to the brand and give passengers what they want: a suitable offer with the right frequencies, flexibility, good on-board service and, last but not least, trains that arrive on time.
Bio Express
34 years old
Training
École Polytechnique and Ponts et Chaussées engineer.
2004
Adviser to the Ministry of Public Works, Transport, Town and Country Planning, Tourism and the Sea.
2006
Director of the Office of the Chairman and CEO of SNCF.
2009
Director of the Transilien North and West Île-de-France rail networks.
2010
Director of maritime and river works at Eiffage.
