By Staff Correspondent
Air Canada, the flag carrier and largest airline in Canada, has emerged triumphant as the preeminent family-friendly airline globally, having been bestowed with this honor at the illustrious 2023 Skytrax World Airline Awards held during the esteemed Paris Air Show. In addition to this prestigious accolade, Air Canada garnered recognition as the Best Airline in Canada, its dedicated staff clinching the title for Best Airline Staff in the country, while Air Canada Rouge was hailed as the Best Low-Cost Airline in Canada.
Michael Rousseau, President and Chief Executive Officer of Air Canada, expressed gratitude towards the airline’s dedicated workforce and customers for their indispensable contributions. “These distinguished awards not only acknowledge Air Canada’s leadership within the aviation industry in Canada and worldwide but also celebrate our exceptional employees who labor assiduously to ensure our customers’ well-being and deliver them safely to their chosen destinations. I extend my heartfelt appreciation to our employees for their unwavering commitment, and I would also like to express gratitude to our customers for recognizing their commendable efforts by actively participating in the 2023 Skytrax awards survey, which received an astounding 20 million submissions from around the globe.”
One of the notable accolades conferred upon Air Canada at the ceremony was the inaugural global award for family-friendly travel. Skytrax commended Air Canada’s initiatives encompassing family-oriented seating policies, dedicated family check-in facilities, priority boarding, tailored children’s meals, provision of children’s amenities/toys/activity packs, child-specific onboard entertainment, complimentary checked luggage, as well as policies catering to carrycots/pushchairs. The superior standards of assistance provided by ground staff and cabin crew throughout the travel experience further contributed to the airline’s distinction.
Delighted by the prestigious Skytrax award for Most Family Friendly Airline, Mr. Rousseau remarked, “We are immensely thrilled to be honored with the inaugural Skytrax award for Most Family Friendly Airline. Air Canada takes immense pride in fostering connections among families and loved ones through travel, where cherished celebrations and indelible memories are forged. We remain committed to introducing more family-focused initiatives across our onboard products, services, and Aeroplan Family Sharing, and eagerly anticipate welcoming an even greater number of families aboard our extensive global network.”
An Overview of the Skytrax World Airline Awards: The Skytrax World Airline Awards, known as the aviation industry’s equivalent of the Oscars, were launched in 1999 to provide an all-encompassing global assessment of customer satisfaction. Travellers worldwide participate in this expansive airline passenger satisfaction survey, thereby determining the deserving winners of these esteemed awards. This year’s online customer survey, conducted from September 2022 to May 2023, included invitations extended to respondents from the previous year’s survey database. The survey was administered in English, French, Spanish, Russian, Japanese, and Chinese, with over 100 nationalities contributing to the 2022/2023 survey, yielding an impressive count of 20.23 million eligible entries. Rigorous screening procedures were implemented to identify and eliminate duplicate, suspicious, or ineligible entries based on IP and user information. Skytrax solely bears the costs associated with the survey and awards event, ensuring an unbiased process. Furthermore, airlines are neither required to pay any entry or registration fees nor charged for utilizing the Award logos and results.
