SA aviation gets a welcome LIFT

Gidon Novick is either mad, brave – or a visionary. To start a new domestic airline, as he and his backers have, in the midst of aviation’s worst year on record takes some determination.

Novick, though, is no stranger to the business, having been the former joint chief executive of Comair and founder of kulula.com.

So, his new venture LIFT doesn’t seem a fly-by-night operation, if you’ll excuse the pun.

The airline may be on to something, too. South African Airways is in the dustbin and may, or may not, be rescued.

Comair and kulula are under business rescue and only resumed limited flying recently. It seems as though only FlySafair has been doing better than expected in the circumstances.

But, just as the skies seemed to have been opening up and people were getting ready to get back to their old ways of travelling, the Covid-19 second wave looks to be upon us, bringing with it the prospect of new restrictions, which could force booking cancellations.

LIFT offers South Africans another flying option – and competition is always healthy.

But it is a difficult business – as testified by the more than 20 airlines which have gone bust in the past 25 years.

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