/R E P E A T -- Air Canada voted top honours by readers of Business Traveler Magazine/

    - Best In-Flight Services in North America
    - Best Airline for Business Class Service in North America
    - Best North American Airline for International Travel

    MONTREAL, Dec. 12 /CNW Telbec/ - Air Canada has been voted by the readers
of Business Traveler magazine as offering the Best In-Flight Services in North
America, as well as being the Best Airline for Business Class Service in North
America and Best North American Airline for International Travel. Results of
the 20th annual readership survey conducted by the magazine, one of the
world's leading authorities on business travel, were revealed at a ceremony
last night in Los Angeles. Star Alliance, of which Air Canada is a founding
member, was voted best Airline Alliance Program. In total, Star Alliance
partners earned top honours in ten categories. Complete results of this year's
reader survey appear in the magazine's December/January issue.
    "We're thrilled that Air Canada has been selected by some of the world's
most discerning, well-travelled executives as the best airline in North
America for our in-flight services, our business class product and for
international travel," said Ben Smith, Executive Vice President and Chief
Commercial Officer. "We have been receiving extremely positive feedback from
customers on the new additions to our fleet and the major enhancements we've
made to our in-flight amenities and travel experience in general. This award
is testament to the hard work of Air Canada's employees to offer our customers
a superior product."
    Air Canada has renewed its international and North American fleets with
new Boeing 777 and Embraer aircraft. Concurrently, Air Canada has all but
completed a major refurbishment program of its existing fleets to offer all
customers brand new seats and personal entertainment systems at each seat,
fleet wide on North American and international routes. 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 suites, Air Canada's international business class
service.
    In addition, Air Canada customers benefit from a simplified airport
experience for connecting between U.S.-Canada transborder flights and either
domestic Canada or international overseas flights world wide, via new
facilities all under one roof at its main Toronto hub.

    Montréal-based Air Canada provides scheduled and charter air
transportation for passengers and cargo to more than 170 destinations on five
continents. Canada's flag carrier is the 14th largest commercial airline in
the world and serves 33 million customers annually with a fleet consisting of
335 aircraft. Air Canada is a founding member of Star Alliance, providing the
world's most comprehensive air transportation network for Canadian domestic,
transborder and international travel. Air Canada aircraft offer customers
individualized seatback in-flight entertainment systems with hundreds of hours
of digital audio-visual entertainment.



For further information:
For further information: Isabelle Arthur (Montréal), (514) 422-5788;
Peter Fitzpatrick (Toronto), (416) 263-5576; Angela Mah (Vancouver), (604)
270-5741; Internet: aircanada.com