Next time you settle in for an Air Malta flight the familiar phrase of “welcome aboard, ladies and gentlemen” may not ring through the plane’s announcement system. 

Instead, this will be replaced by gender-neutral phrases like "attention all passengers".  

In a statement on Tuesday, Air Malta announced they will be using terms like “guests” and more generic customer greetings in a bid to make all customers feel comfortable.  

“Diversity and equality are core values at Air Malta, and the airline welcomes all its customers, irrespective of their nationality, race, political ideology, religion, and gender,” Air Malta said. 

The local carrier follows follows airlines like Japanese Airlines, Air Canada, and EasyJet, which adopted gender-neutral greetings in recent months.

In a recent internal memo to staff members, Air Malta executive chairperson David Curmi said the new rules will shall apply when addressing customers, both inflight and on the ground. 

“For an airline with a multicultural clientele, inclusion is a very important value, and we want to express this attitude shift in our language as well,”  Curmi said. 

Air Malta said that linguistic changes would also be introduced to all its company documentation including contracts and operational manuals.