MONTREAL, Jan. 15, 2014 /CNW Telbec/ - Air Canada has been named the Best Long Haul Airline (Americas) for 2014 by the respected airline safety and product reviewing website, AirlineRatings.com. The results are based on ratings of 450 airlines globally by hundreds of thousands of passengers.

"Air Canada is very pleased to be recognized as the Best Long Haul Airline in the Americas by AirlineRatings.com based on the feedback of global travelers. This award affirms the success of our strategy to transform Air Canada into an international powerhouse and that customers appreciate the significant investment we have made to provide industry-leading products and services both on-board our aircraft and in the airports from which we operate. We will soon take another major step forward with the delivery this spring of the first of 37 Boeing 787 Dreamliners into our fleet, featuring an enhanced version of our International Business Class lie-flat seats, a Premium Economy cabin, as well as other amenities such a state-of-the-art in-flight entertainment system available free at every seat," said Ben Smith, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer at Air Canada.

"Essential to our international success is our membership in the Star Alliance, the world's largest airline alliance, which allows us to offer convenient connections and other benefits to travelers to more than 1,300 airports in 195 countries worldwide. For this reason, we are also pleased AirlineRatings.com named our Star Alliance partners Air New Zealand the Airline of the Year, Singapore Airlines the Best Long Haul Airline (Asia/Pacific) and Swiss as Best Long Haul Airline (Europe).  We congratulate our fellow Star Alliance members and we will continue to work closely with them delivering standard-setting products and services."

Air Canada has received a number of industry awards recognizing its industry-leading products and services, including being named the only Four Star network carrier in North America by the rating agency SkyTrax and also Best Airline in North America in the 2013 SkyTrax World Airline Awards. Other recent awards include:

• "Best Airline in North America" - Global Traveler magazine, tenth annual GT Tested Reader Survey awards
  
  
• "Best North American Airline for International Travel" and "Best North American Airline Inflight Experience" - Business Traveler magazine, 2013 Best in Business Travel Awards (the 25^th annual edition of these awards)
  
  
• "Best North American Airline for International Travel" and "Best Flight Attendants in North America" - Premier Traveler magazine, Best of 2013 awards
  
  

About AirlineRatings.com

AirlineRatings was launched in June 2013 and safety and product rates 450 airlines using its unique seven-star rating system. It has been used by hundreds of thousands of passengers from 207 countries. It has become the industry standard for safety and product rating. The editorial team is arguably one of the world's most experienced with almost 40 international and national awards. They have also authored or co-authored more than 27 industry books.

About Air Canada

Air Canada is Canada's largest domestic and international airline serving more than 175 destinations on five continents.  Canada's flag carrier is among the 20 largest airlines in the world and in 2013 served more than 35 million customers.  Air Canada provides scheduled passenger service directly to 60 Canadian cities, 49 destinations in the United States and 67 cities in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, the Caribbean, Mexico and South America. Air Canada is a founding member of Star Alliance, the world's most comprehensive air transportation network serving 1,328 destinations in 195 countries.  Air Canada is the only international network carrier in North America to receive a Four-Star ranking according to independent U.K. research firm Skytrax that ranked Air Canada in a worldwide survey of more than 18 million airline passengers as Best Airline in North America in 2013 for the fourth consecutive year.  For more information, please visit: www.aircanada.com

SOURCE Air Canada