Nomination of Air Canada mobile app for Webby Awards

Overview of the company:

Air Canada is Canada's largest domestic and international airline, and in 2019 was among the top 20 largest airlines in the world. It is Canada’s flag carrier and a founding member of Star Alliance, the world's most comprehensive air transportation network. 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. In 2020, Air Canada was named Global Traveler's Best Airline in North America for the second straight year. In January 2021, Air Canada received APEX’s Diamond Status Certification for the Air Canada CleanCare+ biosafety program for managing COVID-19, the only airline in Canada to attain the highest APEX ranking. Air Canada has also committed to a net zero emissions goal from all global operations by 2050. For more information, please visit: aircanada.com/media, follow Air Canada on Twitter and LinkedIn, and join Air Canada on Facebook.

Overview of the Air Canada mobile app:

Air Canada’s next generation Air Canada mobile app debuted with a redesigned customer centric experience. The app offers customers the ability to book travel, manage trips, and more. It features an intuitive layout supported by the latest technologies, to deliver a faster, more reliable performance. Air Canada’s mobile app was developed after extensive consultation with customers and employees around the world, including the more than 18,000 flyers who participated in the beta program.

Key Stats

• 6 million downloads
• About 200,000 daily users

Overall experience:

Simple, fast, and contextual: These are the hallmarks of the best travel apps. Air Canada customers have all those features in the new Air Canada app.

Travel like an expert:

• A digital solution was recently released for customers to securely scan, upload and verify their COVID-19 test results. This feature helps travellers conveniently validate compliance with government health travel requirements prior to arriving at the airport. Air Canada developed its solution with the support of Amadeus, one of the world's leading travel technology companies.
• A major update was released when Air Canada launched its transformed Aeroplan after a three-year process of integrating the loyalty program following Air Canada’s acquisition of Aeroplan from Aimia. The transformed program, designed to put the member experience first, came with personalized, flexible and easy-to-use features, including an integrated booking experience with the ability to search and redeem flight rewards on the Air Canada app.
• The Air Canada mobile app launched with a new feature, a first among Canadian airlines, that displays interactive airport maps with turn-by-turn directions of Toronto Pearson International Airport, Montreal Trudeau International Airport, and Vancouver International Airport. These detailed indoor maps guide customers through flight connections and provide estimated walking times and directions to gates, restaurants, restrooms, and the closest Air Canada lounge.

Updates to the app rollout regularly, including releases that will work seamlessly with Aeroplan loyalty accounts, among other improvements. The app was designed and built entirely in Canada, in our digital labs enabled by the Air Canada technology team.

Visual design, structure and navigation

From the parent at the airport who is juggling baggage and children enroute to their dream destination to the business traveller who needs to travel two hours later due to unexpected meetings, our app is designed for our customers.

We overhauled the interface design to meet the demand for one-handed use, perfect for those multi-tasking moments when you’re sipping a latte in one hand and need to pull up your mobile boarding pass with the other.

Our developers set a goal for customers to be able to book a flight in under a minute. To achieve this, they used a contextual framework that surfaces relevant information to customers at the right points in their journey.

The colour scheme compliments the company’s brand identity, while aspirational photos and important travel information such as ‘Mandatory Entry Requirements into Canada’ are featured on the home screen.

The left-hand pull-out menu easily assists traveling customers:

• Check-in,
• Boarding pass,
• Customer support,
• View airport and terminal maps,
• Interact with Air Canada’s Wi-Fi and entertainment.

The bottom menu features:

• Booking a flight with cash or Aeroplan Points
• Flight status tool
• Trip manager
• Aeroplan Account