Air Canada is the business travel king in Canada, a new study says.

According to the Ipsos Reid 2018 Canadian Business Traveller Survey, Air Canada is the preferred airline for domestic travel for 92% of frequent business travellers.

The national study determined Air Canada is the only Canadian airline to see a consistent increase in preference and in usage for the past five years. Additionally, readers of leading frequent business traveller magazine Business Traveler have named Air Canada "Best North American Airline for International Travel", as well as "Best North American Airline for Inflight Experience", solidifying Air Canada's position as the preferred airline for business travel.

"This year's Ipsos Reid Canadian Business Traveller Survey confirms Air Canada is the preferred airline of Canadians who fly most often and that its lead over other carriers continues to widen,” said Lucie Guillemette, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer at Air Canada. “The 2018 results revealed the broadest margin of frequent traveller preference for Air Canada versus our domestic competitors since 2014, and we are especially pleased that this positive trend is seen in all regions of Canada.”

"Year-over-year increases in key ratings by business travellers reflect our business customers' appreciation of our strong global network, schedule, loyalty programs and focus on customer service,” Guillemette said. “Together with the results from Business Traveler USA, this further indicates that Air Canada is successfully executing its global strategies, which include introducing a new, industry-leading loyalty program in 2020. On behalf of our 30,000 employees worldwide, I thank our customers for choosing Air Canada in growing numbers, and we look forward to welcoming them onboard North America's only international four-star airline as affirmed by global air transport rating organization Skytrax, for their next flight.”

Among other things, the survey of frequent business travellers found:

Overall satisfaction with Air Canada's service continues to increase, climbing six percentage points over 2017 for in-flight and four percentage points for airports. Air Canada's highest scores in the last five years was satisfaction in its schedule, loyalty program, customer service and perception as a dynamic organization.

96 per cent intend to use Air Canada for domestic business travel in the coming year, significantly more than the intention to use other Canadian carriers.

Air Canada is the preferred airline for travel between Canada and the U.S., increasing by 11 percentage points over the last five years.

WestJet is hoping to take a solid chunk out of Air Canada’s business travel share when it launches its new Boeing 787 Dreamliners early next year. The new planes will feature business class sections with lie-flat seats and other amenities not traditionally found on WestJet.

Speaking to travel agents at a meeting in Toronto last week, WestJet officials noted that the extra value brought in by high-paying business travellers would be a big benefit for the Calgary-based airline. Richard Bartrem, WestJet’s Vice President Marketing and Communications, said premium fliers make up 26% of the market but account for 56% of total spending.

The 27th annual Canadian Business Traveller Survey is an online survey conducted independently by Ipsos Reid, based on business travellers who took a minimum of six round trip flights for business in the past 12 months.