MONTREAL — Air Canada shares outperformed those of all its North American network carrier peers for the second consecutive year in 2017, according to the airline.

Air Canada celebrated its 80th anniversary in 2017, plus the carrier set a number of company financial records and won major awards for customer service and employee engagement, says President and CEO Calin Rovinescu.

“Air Canada performed very strongly in 2017, fulfilling its commitments to investors, customers, employees and other stakeholders. Such achievements speak to the success of the ongoing transformation of our company and its power to deliver value to shareholders,” he said.

“In the third quarter of 2017 alone we set nine financial records for Air Canada, including EBITDAR, liquidity and passengers carried. We were named the Best Airline in North America by Skytrax, and for the fifth consecutive year we were ranked among Canada’s Top 100 Employers. Moreover, we expanded our global network with 29 new routes and continued to renew our fleet with the delivery of nine new Boeing 787 Dreamliners, the first of our new narrow body Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, and we unveiled a stunning new aircraft livery to signal our transformation.”

Highlights of 2017 for Air Canada included:

• The launch of 30 new routes, 15 of which were new international city pairings, including Montreal-Shanghai, Toronto-Mumbai, and Vancouver-Melbourne;
• Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge hired more than 6,000 new employees in 2017, providing high quality jobs with pensions and benefits;
• Record EBITDAR financial results for the first nine months on which it has reported (fourth quarter and year end results for 2017 will be reported February 16, 2018);
• More than 48 million people served on an expanded network;
• Named Best Airline in North America by Skytrax and maintained its 4 Star Rating, making Air Canada the only four star network carrier in North America. Air Canada was also named the Best Long Haul Airline in the Americas for 2018 by AirlineRatings.com, an airline safety and product rating agency. AirlineRatings.com gives Air Canada its top seven-star rating for both safety and product;
• Named one of Canada’s Top 100 Employers for the fifth consecutive year and one of Canada’s Best Diversity Employers for 2017 for the second consecutive year by Mediacorp Canada Inc.; winner in Airline Strategy Awards Finance Category by the established air transport industry news and analysis provider Flight Airline Business; and one of the 50 Most Engaged Workplaces in North America for second consecutive year by Achievers, an employee social recognition company.

“Shareholders were also big winners in 2017. Our common shares appreciated nearly 90% over the year, outperforming all of our North American network carrier peers, the Dow Jones U.S. Airlines Index and the S&P/TSX Composite Index,” said Rovinescu. “As well, I would also like to thank our employees and recognize their dedication and hard work that made 2017 such a successful year for Air Canada.”