Lufthansa swaps 'ladies and gentlemen' for gender-inclusive greetings

Lufthansa said in a statement that travellers would be referred to as "guests" or simply greeted with a cheerful: "Good morning here on board."

If you are on board a Lufthansa flight next time, you will not be greeted with the customary "ladies and gentlemen" welcome.

Instead, the German airline group has now decided that it will greet fliers using gender-neutral language from now on. Lufthansa will be the fourth airline to bring about this change. Earlier, Canada's flagship airline Air Canada (2019), European low-cost carrier EasyJet (2019) and Japanese airline JAL (2020) had introduced this change in the welcome statement.

Lufthansa said in a statement that travellers would be referred to as "guests" or simply greeted with a cheerful: "Good morning here on board."

The airline statement said that equality and diversity were core values for the company and its corporate culture. 

"We want to express this attitude in our language as well. We want to show that diversity is not just a phrase, but a lived reality," the Lufthansa statement said.

The company said the decision to bring about this change was made in response to ongoing discussions in society about non-binary gender identification and a desire to value all guests onboard.

Several international agencies, including the European Commission and the United Nations, have already adopted guidelines for the use of non-gendered language as part of their efforts.

According to a 2018 European Parliament handbook on gender neutrality in language, gender-inclusive language is aimed at avoiding word choices that could be interpreted as biased, discriminatory or demeaning by implying that one sex or social gender is the norm.