October 16, 2019: Air Canada has planned to change its standard introductory greeting to keep pace with changing times.
According to a report in ‘National Post’, Air Canada, in effort to be more inclusive and gender neutral, will no longer address guests as ‘ladies and gentlemen’ but instead use ‘everybody or ‘tout le monde’.
This move was announced by an internal memo to company employees last weekend.
“We want to ensure an inclusive space for everyone, including those who identify with gender X,” reads the memo.
On passenger aircraft, the staff will greet passengers as ‘hello, everyone’ or ‘good evening, everyone,’.
“The change will be reflected in the transmission of the Onboard Announcement Manual as part of our commitment to respect gender identity, diversity and inclusion. We will tell you when this transmission will be available and when to implement this change, “reads the rest of the release, as quoted.
Air Canada has not yet confirmed if and when the changes will be implemented.
The policy change comes four months after the government began to allow citizens to mark their gender as non-binary ‘X’, rather than male or female, on their passports. Various airlines have followed suit in an effort to recognize gender neutrality.
In March, the United Airlines became the first U.S. airline to recognize gender-neutral pronouns after offering a gender-neutral title ‘Mx’ alongside ‘Mr’ and “Mrs.”