For the sixth time in eight years, Air Canada has once again been named Best Airline in North America in the 2017 Skytrax World Airline Awards at the International Paris Air Show and number 29 in the world.

"We are delighted to be recognized as the Best Airline in North America by Skytrax based on the opinions of those who know us best: our customers.” said Calin Rovinescu, president and chief executive of Air Canada. “This award is a significant milestone in the transformation of Air Canada into one of the world's leading carriers and is all the more meaningful given the increased competition in our industry."

”I thank our employees for their hard work and dedication in helping us earn this distinction and I thank our customers for their loyalty and support as we have expanded our reach across the globe." Rovinescu continued. "As we celebrate our 80th year in 2017, we are extremely proud to be Canada's flag carrier, North America's Best Airline and its only Four Star network carrier."

Skytrax, whose annual poll measured opinion from almost 20 million travellers from over 105 countries worldwide between August 2016 and May 2017, is recognized as a global benchmark of industry excellence and covers over 325 airlines, from the largest international airlines to smaller domestic carriers. It evaluates quality standards across 41 key performance indicators in front-line products and services in the airport and onboard environments.

"We are delighted to welcome Air Canada back at the World Airline Awards to recognize their achievement of being named the Best Airline in North America.” said Edward Plaisted, chief executive of Skytrax. “To receive this accolade six times, in the last eight years is a remarkable achievement and we congratulate the airline on this outstanding, consistent performance,".

In 2010, Air Canada embarked on a $10 Billion capital expenditure program to elevate the travel experience, with a focus on customers, which included:

Growing its global network via its three main Canadian hubs; Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. Air Canada now serves 95 cities around the world and is one of only a few airlines in the world to serve all six inhabited continents;

A fleet renewal program that has already introduced Boeing 777s and Boeing 787 Dreamliners, with new Boeing 737MAX aircraft arriving later this year and Bombardier CSeries jets entering the fleet in 2019;

Refitted cabin interiors across its wide-body fleet, including the introduction of the first lie-flat business seat fleetwide in North America and the first dedicated Premium Economy cabin in North America;

New Maple Leaf Lounges in Canada, the U.S., and around the world;

Enhanced training initiatives for customer-facing inflight, airport, baggage and call centre employees, including expanded language capabilities. In addition to English and French, service is available from Air Canada’s North American call centres in Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean and Japanese and from their call centres outside North America, service is offered in local languages, including Portuguese, Spanish, German, Italian, Hebrew, Mandarin, Cantonese and Japanese;

Technological innovations to facilitate customer interactions, including a new website, ongoing refinements of mobile technology, and increased investments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) to further develop customer-focused capabilities and information management;

Enhanced onboard amenities such as an inflight menu prepared by Canadian chef David Hawksworth with wine pairings by sommelier Veronique Rivest, plus in-flight Wi-Fi connectivity fleet-wide in North America

"This award, based on the opinions of almost 20 million air travellers worldwide, shows customers are enthusiastically embracing the significant investments Air Canada is making in its products and services.” said Benjamin Smith, president, passenger airlines at Air Canada. “These include the introduction of the state-of-the-art Boeing 787 Dreamliner into our fleet, a widening choice of destinations to choose from in our expanding global network, refurbished aircraft interiors featuring our next generation lie flat Business Class seats on all of our Boeing 777 and 787 aircraft and dedicated Premium Economy cabins, as well as other enhanced amenities ranging from sharply restyled Maple Leaf Lounges to signature dishes and wine pairings onboard."

Other notable winners include Qatar Airways, World's Best Airline, and Air Transat, who was named Best North American Leisure Airline for the sixth year in a row.

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