South Africa’s newest airline, LIFT, has just started accepting reservations. The airline is odd — it will operate one of the oldest A320 fleets in the world, and also promises to offer a world-class customer experience.
All of this comes as aviation in South Africa in general is struggling, as South African Airways is more or less out of business, though who really knows what’s going on at the airline.
In this post:
The story of South Africa’s LIFT
LIFT is a new airline that is a collaboration between Gidon Novick (the founder of kulula, a South African low cost carrier), Jonathan Ayache (a former Uber executive), and Global Aviation (a South African charter airline that primarily operates wet lease flights).
The reason LIFT is able to get started so quickly is because for all practical purposes it’s part of Global Aviation, which is how the airline is licensed, has its air operator’s certificate, etc.
There’s even a fun story behind the name of the airline — the founders held a naming competition, and there were over 25,000 entries. LIFT was chosen as the name, as that’s supposed to “capture the marvel of the physics of flying,” and “encapsulates a view of the world and our beautiful country.”
Those who suggested the name LIFT are receiving free flights for a year, and will have their names inscribed on the company’s first aircraft.
What planes will LIFT fly?
LIFT will initially fly three Airbus A320s, which they’re taking over from Global Aviation (if you can even call it “taking over,” since LIFT will be part of Global Aviation). The planes will be in a one cabin layout, and will be old.
Global Aviation’s A320s are an average of over 30 years old, as the airline has the second oldest A320 fleet in the world. Of course if planes are well maintained that’s not an issue at all. But still, it’s not often you see a startup launch with 30+ year old planes. On the plus side, I guess the planes aren’t costing LIFT much.
What routes will LIFT fly?
Tickets are already for sale on LIFT’s website for the first two routes, which will launch as of December 10, 2020:
- 6x daily Johannesburg (JNB) to Cape Town (CPT)
- 1x daily Johannesburg (JNB) to George (GRJ)
We’ll see how that evolves over time, but that’s the plan as of now. The airline is hoping to capitalize on domestic tourism demand during the peak summer travel season.
What are LIFT fares like?
LIFT doesn’t have any change or cancelation fees, so all tickets are fully flexible. While the airline is marketing this as a core part of its value proposition, we’ll see how that evolves over time. After all, many airlines are waiving change fees nowadays due to all the uncertainty.
One-way fares between Johannesburg and Cape Town start at 855ZAR, or 54USD. They don’t actually get all that much more expensive than that, though I imagine that could change if flights start to fill up.
What will make LIFT different?
There’s already quitea bit of competition in the domestic South African market (especially between Johannesburg and Cape Town). What will set LIFT apart? The claims are that:
- LIFT has a “different and more flexible operating model which uses technology to offer a world-class customer experience”
- LIFT tickets are all fully flexible, allowing travelers to change and cancel without penalties
- LIFT cabin crew and ground staff will wear clothes from online fashion retailer Superbalist
- Travelers will be treated to “proper coffee” from Vida e Caffè on morning flights, while afternoon flights will feature a South African wine tasting
- The airline is hoping to achieve a cost base that’s 30% lower than competitors
My take on LIFT
I’m curious to see how this experiment goes. On the one hand, I find talk of technology being a priority to be a bit funny, given the airline has a very basic website and doesn’t even have social media accounts. I haven’t yet seen any specific examples of what will set LIFT’s technology apart.
If I had a dollar for every travel company that promised technology would be a point of differentiation, only to not have great technology, I’d have enough money to cover another six months of CARES Act funding. 😉
Now, here’s what I find most interesting about LIFT — the airline seems to have virtually no downside:
- I imagine Global Aviation’s A320s are mostly just sitting around right now, given how little demand there is for passenger wet leases due to the pandemic
- LIFT is even technically part of Global Aviation, so the airline does have an incredible ability to adjust capacity with resources that already exist; if flights are full they can add more flights, while if this doesn’t work out, the planes can just go back to Global Aviation
Not many startup airlines have that kind of flexibility…
Bottom line
LIFT is South Africa’s newest airline, and it will be launching operations as of December 10, 2020. The airline will initially operate two domestic routes with 30+ year old A320s. The airline is promising great technology, hip uniforms, good coffee, and wine flights.
Only time will tell what the airline actually delivers…
What do you make of LIFT?
(Featured image courtesy of Anna Zvereva)
just an FYI that you cannot book direct with the airline - they do not accept USA (or any non-South African) credit cards or EFT. I spent time researching why I was getting errors, and had to wait overnight for a respond on email (twitter response was email us ). You an use Expedia and book the flights, and you will have 24 hours to cancel under USA guidelines. What is interesting is that it...
just an FYI that you cannot book direct with the airline - they do not accept USA (or any non-South African) credit cards or EFT. I spent time researching why I was getting errors, and had to wait overnight for a respond on email (twitter response was email us ). You an use Expedia and book the flights, and you will have 24 hours to cancel under USA guidelines. What is interesting is that it will show as Hahn Aviation - a 3rd party booking system that some airlines use for their back edn tech. So you have Lift, which uses Global Aviation as its backbone and Hahn Aviation as their booking engine/GDS.
They used to appear on Google flights too - but no more - at least not for flights I am looking for.
So far not impressed - they should have an FAQ about the payment process limitation.
Business class seats are 3 wide with middle seat block (hello BA!), 33" pitch. Planes are older A320.
We are booked on BA (who cancelled our original 16:00 flight and never told us) using AA points - so may try Lift to see how it is, and have BA as a backup 90 minutes later...just in case. (we can always cancel our BA flight before travel and get the points back)
I read now everything about Lift and I certainly will NOT fly on any of their planes.
I was lucky all my life to fly with top airlines
and top Planes and would not like to be on
a 30 year old plane. Good luck to everyone
Good news for domestic travellers, hoping for the best
Flew a Global Aviation A320 operating for kulula JNB-CPT. I can't relate to @Chris, it definitely felt old. Still had the US Airways bulkheads. On takeoff from JNB we had to fly "low and slow" with the wheels down for about 30-45 minutes to "let the brakes cool down". All after a relatively short taxi on a cool day in winter. A very memorable experience but not for the right reasons.
Why can’t airlines use an oxygen assistance for all travelers with a canister of oxygen to board then plug into the airline system when seated with a completely inclosed face mask
Good luck!
However, I'll take a pass.
TAP has free wine but new(er) aircraft.
I’ve been on these Global A320’s many times. They often operate flights for Mango and Kulula when their own aircraft are offline for maintenance or technical reasons. The A320’s may be old but they are meticulously maintained. There is no way an ordinary traveler will know he or she is on a 30 year old aircraft. I for one will support them, it is so much nicer traveling on an A320 than the clapped out...
I’ve been on these Global A320’s many times. They often operate flights for Mango and Kulula when their own aircraft are offline for maintenance or technical reasons. The A320’s may be old but they are meticulously maintained. There is no way an ordinary traveler will know he or she is on a 30 year old aircraft. I for one will support them, it is so much nicer traveling on an A320 than the clapped out 737’s that are plying our skies. Gidon Novick is a great guy and I wish him all the best for his new venture.
Rustboxes?
@Peter - No, absolutely no relationship past or present with Global. I have however interviewed and hired many of their former staff who seem to unanimously tell the same tale.
I’ll take the wine tasting I could probably drink more than $50. Ha ha
@Sean M I do always look forward to your comments, especially with regards to African aviation, but in this particular case are they a competitor of yours?
Whether this is the one or not, time will tell. But I do believe that prosperous airlines will be born from the detritus of today's airlines - with their lease costs being a mere fraction of those of existing airlines.
Yeah, good luck with that. Global isn't exactly well known for their stellar reliability (either in operations or payments).
Not sure if it's irony or good, old-fashioned needling behind an Uber executive naming his new airline Lift.
Hey Ben.
“ the founder of kululu, a South African low cost carrier),”
I think it’s actually kulula instead of kululu
Thanks :)