W F EIATTS U I ERSE A : G RO I DUO NN DN TO HV E IW CK ORLD
BOUND FOR THE GIDON NOVICK (BCOM 1991, BACC 1993), FOUNDER OF KULUL A AND FORMER CEO OF COMAIR, HAS BEEN FASCINATED WITH FLIGHT HIS ENTIRE LIFE AND IN DECEMBER HE L AU N CH E D H I S N E W A I R L I N E , L I F T.
Image: Kovah, Unsplash
BY HEATHER DUGMORE
G
idon has flown countless times, but says each flight is still exciting for him: “It’s not new technology but it’s amazing technology and it epitomises what humans can do – create machines that transport people around the country and world. It’s an incredible enabler that facilitates human connection and one of the biggest human aspirations – to explore and travel.” The aviation industry has of course been hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. “Six thousand commercial aircraft are parked around the world doing nothing,” says Gidon. His response to this crisis is characteristically counterintuitive – he started a new airline.
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“The opportunity was to make use of aircraft that weren’t doing any work and partner with owners who are willing to allow the aircraft to be used on a variable cost basis.” Lift was launched in December 2020 with two routes: Johannesburg-Cape Town and JohannesburgGeorge. The airline’s partner is Global Aviation, which has sophisticated maintenance and COVID-protocol capability and a good track record over 20 years. Gidon and co-founder Jonathan Avache created a “customer obsessed”, agile operational model for Lift. Where Kulula introduced low price air travel, Lift has introduced value added air travel with innovations
