Air Canada made a substantial splash at the world airline awards this year -- but it wasn't the only Canadian airline to do so.
While it isn't one of the biggest airlines in the country, Air Transat has been flying Canucks across the continent and overseas for a whopping 37 years. It services over 60 destinations in 25 countries, providing locals with numerous ways to explore the world.
For the fifth consecutive year, the Canadian carrier was named the World's Best Leisure Airline at the Skytrax World Airline Awards. It was also named the Best Leisure Airline in North America 2023.
Introduced in 1999, the World Airline Awards have allowed travellers to vote in an international customer satisfaction survey, which is the largest of its kind in the world.
Many people around the world refer to the annual awards as “the Oscars of the aviation industry," according to a news release.
The awards ceremony took place at the Paris Air Show, held at the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace in Bourget, France.
Marc-Philippe Lumpé, Chief Operations Officer of Air Transat, said the hour filled the airline with "immense pride" and was a testament to the "exceptional nature of our service and our commitment to excellence.
"Our unrivalled expertise, which puts our customers at the centre of all our actions, enables us to live up to the trust they place in us every day," he said.
The Canadian leisure airline beat out SunExpress, which is a Turkish-German airline based in Antalya. British charter airline TUI Airways placed third, with Condor Airlines, a German leisure airline, placing fourth.
TUI Fly, a Belgium-based charter airline, rounded out the top five leisure selections.
“We congratulate Air Transat on the fabulous achievement of being voted the World’s Best Leisure Airline in 2023 for the fifth time,” said Edward Plaisted, Chief Executive Officer of Skytrax.
“This award is a great recognition for all of the Air Transat front line staff who are clearly delivering great standards to gain this highest level of customer satisfaction.”
Air Canada was ranked as the best airline in Canada and the 38th best airline in the world, according to more than 20 million online surveys tallied by Skytrax. It also won Skytrax's top award worldwide in a new category of its awards: family-friendly airline.
With files from Glen Korstrom.
