If you are flying Air Canada in the future, you will notice a change in how its cabin crew addresses passengers. The airline, named one of Canada's Best Diversity Employers for 2019, has revised its passenger greetings and the gender terms it uses in its onboard announcements.
In an effort to be more gender inclusive, you won't hear cabin crew addressing flyers as "ladies and gentlemen" or "mesdames et messieurs" any more. Instead the staff of Canada's national airline will be using neutral words like "everybody" or "tout le monde" to address passengers. While the airline has not confirmed when the new gender-neutral greetings will be implemented, the move follows new Canadian government regulations that permit citizens to identify as gender-neutral using “Gender X” on official identification documents.
"We will be amending our onboard announcements to modernize them and remove specific references to gender," a spokespeson for Air Canada said. "We work hard to make sure all employees feel like valued members of the Air Canada family, while ensuring our customers are comfortable and respected when they choose to travel with us."
The wider travel industry is also making strides around gender inclusivity. Airlines for America announced earlier this year that its members, including American, Alaska, United, Southwest and JetBlue, would add new gender options from 1 June to the booking process in order to accommodate non-binary passengers who have “X” on their IDs.
