At the 2025 Skytrax World Airline Awards held on June 18, Air Canada was named the Best Airline in North America. This is now the ninth time, since 2010, that Air Canada has been named the Best Airline in North America by Skytrax. Canada’s flagship airline was awarded a four-star rating by Skytrax, based on passenger experiences.
Skytrax 2025 Airline Awards: Surveys and Statistics
Skytrax awarded Air Canada a total of nine awards, alongside the four-star rating, which included both new and repeat wins. Alongside being named the Best Airline in North America, Air Canada’s signature suite in Toronto received the World’s Best Business Class Lounge Dining award for the second time. Additionally, the airline received awards for Best Cabin Crew in both Canada and North America, Most Family Friendly Airline in North America, and was recognized for Best Premium Economy, Business Class Onboard Catering, Best Business Class Lounge, along with the title of Best Low-Cost Airline in North America, awarded to its Rouge subsidiary.
The Skytrax award winners are decided based on global passenger satisfaction surveys distributed to passengers online. The survey for the 2025 Skytrax awards was distributed between September 2024 to May 2025, collecting over 22.3 million passenger responses. Skytrax prides itself on its objectivity, ensuring fairness through offering the survey in nine languages and implementing strict measures to screen for invalid or fraudulent entries. Overall, these surveys aim to provide an impartial assessment of passenger experiences, making the results a reliable indicator of an airline’s performance.
Being named Best Airline in North America highlights Air Canada’s strong passenger satisfaction and operational reliability. According to AirNav Radar statistics, Air Canada operates an average of 1,089 daily flights and serves destinations in over 180 countries worldwide. While it ranks as the second busiest airline in North America, after American Airlines, the majority of its daily flights are domestic routes within Canada. In line with AirNav Radar reporting, Calgary International Airport and Vancouver International Airport are Air Canada’s busiest city pair, with an average of 68 daily aircraft movements between the two airports.
Notably, according to statistics from Cirium, Air Canada ranked 7th among the most on-time airlines in North America, arriving 79.80 percent of flights on time, placing Air Canada in the lower half of the top 10 for operational reliability in North America. Spirit Airlines ranked first, with Delta Air Lines in second place. This means that despite arriving on time 79.80 percent of the time, Air Canada’s hospitality and four-star service, as recognised by Skytrax, could be seen as compensating for any delays by providing excellent customer service.
Air Canada: Awarded Another Four-Star Win
Air Canada’s President and CEO, Michael Rousseau, stated in the celebratory speech after the awards:
“I congratulate our 40,000 global employees, who are the true winners of this award, and I thank them for their professionalism in taking care of our customers and transporting them safely with glowing-hearted hospitality.”
Air Canada’s recent win highlights the airline’s ongoing commitment to providing the best customer experience. With this in mind, Air Canada has announced some new upgrades, including free onboard Wi-Fi, an updated mobile app with more features, a larger selection of in-flight entertainment, smoother airport and check-in procedures, and the award-winning Aeroplan loyalty program.
Michael Rousseau also signalled a forward-looking commitment:
“Our goal is to keep earning loyalty far into the future through innovation and care.”
Have you travelled with Air Canada before? What was your experience like? Are you more likely to after witnessing their win at the Skytrax Awards? Let us know in the comments section below.
