For a record eighth consecutive year, the corporate travel community has ranked Delta No. 1 among U.S. airlines in the annual Business Travel News Airline Survey.

Since BTN first began surveying corporate travel professionals in 1998, no other airline has topped the survey for eight consecutive years.

“On behalf of the entire Delta team, I’d like to thank our customers not only for this honor, but also for the valuable feedback we receive from you through this survey and throughout the year,” said Steve Sear, Delta’s President — International and Executive Vice President — Global Sales. “Delta’s track record of success in this survey is a reflection of the constant dedication and professionalism of Delta’s more than 80,000 employees.”

The survey asks corporate travel professionals, who manage tens of billions of dollars in annual corporate travel spend, to rate U.S. carriers based on their perceptions of airline performance in negotiating and maintaining preferred programs, delivering service and providing value.

For the fifth year in a row, Delta also topped all 10 categories that the survey measures, earning its highest marks for quality of client communications; value of relationship with account managers and sales reps; and quality of customer service.

“We are grateful for each and every one of our customers, and we will never stop striving to improve for them,” said Bob Somers, Delta's Senior Vice President - Global Sales. “Winning this award helps us better understand how we’re meeting our customers’ expectations. We couldn’t be more excited, or more humbled, to receive this recognition for the eighth year in a row.”

In 2018, Delta has taken numerous steps to improve the service and products it offers for corporate customers, including launching account-specific operational reporting, personalized websites for corporate customers, and the industry’s first globally aligned corporate benefits program, with joint-venture venture partners Air France-KLM.

“Each step we’ve taken in 2018 to improve the corporate travel experience has been a direct result of the feedback we receive from our customers, and our ‘listen, act, listen’ approach will continue to guide in 2019 and beyond,” said Kristen Shovlin, Delta's Vice President -- Sales Operations and Development. “We can’t say thank you enough to our customers for their continued partnership, as well as to our employees for their professionalism and dedication.”