Air Canada voted 'Best Business Class to Canada' by readers of Business Traveler magazine

MONTREAL, Dec. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Air Canada has been voted 'Best Business Class to Canada' by the readers of the U.S magazine, Business Traveler. Star Alliance was chosen as the world's Best Airline Alliance. In total, Star Alliance partners earned top honours in 12 categories. Complete results of this year's reader survey appear in the magazine's December/January issue.

"We are very honoured that Air Canada has been selected by some of the world's most discerning, well-travelled executives as offering their preferred premium service to Canada," said Sean Menke, Executive Vice president and Chief Commercial Officer. "We take pride in offering a superior product to earn our customers' loyalty. The feedback we've received from customers on the new additions to our fleet and major enhancements to our in-flight amenities has been extremely positive."

Air Canada has been renewing its North American fleet since 2005 with new Embraer aircraft featuring a choice of two cabins of service, while at the same time expanding its U.S. transborder and domestic Canada route network offering more point-to-point services with the most convenient schedules. Air Canada has also begun a major refurbishment program to revitalize its existing fleet with interior upgrades that include brand new seats and personal entertainment systems at each customer's seat. New fleet-wide amenities include digital quality in-seat monitors with touch-screen controls offering a wide selection of audio and video on demand programming, standard in-seat power within reach of every customer and industry leading lie-flat beds in Executive First, Air Canada's international premium service.

Now in its 18th year, Business Traveler magazine's annual Readers' Choice Best in Business Travel Survey randomly samples the magazine's estimated 100,000 subscribers by a third-party agency. The 2006 survey had a return rate of more than 33 per cent.

Air Canada serves 150 destinations on five continents and is the largest provider of air service between the United States and Canada. Air Canada and its regional affiliate Jazz operate more than 390 non-stop flights per day on 89 routes between 51 U.S. and seven Canadian cities - more than any other airline. Within Canada, the carriers operate close to 1,000 non-stop flights per day on 131 routes to and from 67 Canadian airports. Air Canada is a founding member of Star Alliance, providing the world's most comprehensive air transportation network.