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Low-cost South African airline LIFT is entering a consolidation phase, it announced on Wednesday.
LIFT was founded in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic with a flexible operating model. It is a division of Global Aviation, which focuses on ACMI “wet” leasing and charter operations.
As part of what the airline calls “a strategic pivot”, its founding management team, consisting of Gidon Novick, Jonathan Ayache and Justin Gordon, will step back to focus on strategic aircraft acquisition.
Novick founded the low-cost South African airline kulula.com, whose parent company Comair is currently in liquidation. He is also a co-founder of LIFT and Home Suite Hotels. Ayache, the other co-founder of LIFT, is the airline’s CEO and Gordon is the chief financial officer.
Although the three will step back from their day-to-day management roles, they remain board members and shareholders in LIFT. Global Aviation, which currently operates the ACMI division, has now assumed the management responsibility for LIFT.
Novick, Ayache and Gordon will focus on what they call “strategic initiatives”. Apart from aircraft acquisition, they want to try and expand LIFT’s flexible business model across the African continent.
Novick told AirInsight on Wednesday that LIFT has an outstanding management team in place that will thrive without him, Ayache and Gordon day-to-day.
“This allows for a specific focus on the long-term strategy for LIFT. Importantly, to build an aircraft fund to acquire aircraft for LIFT’s long-term future and also for Africa’s under-served aviation industry. We also see a great opportunity to replicate the LIFT model in other regional markets,” said Novick.
Their move comes against the backdrop of the global airline industry facing a shortage of commercial aircraft due to delays at Airbus and Boeing.
According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Africa has 17% of the world’s population yet only contributes about 2% of total global travel, and it is the potential of this underserved aviation market that Novick, Ayache and Gordon want to try and tap from their South Africa base.
Currently, LIFT operates a mixed fleet, including aircraft leased from AerCap with others from Global Aviation’s own A320 fleet. These aircraft serve multiple markets globally through Global Aviation’s ACMI wet leasing division. LIFT won a Skytrax award for Africa’s Best Low-Cost Carrier 2024.
Global Aviation was one of the minority shareholders in the Takatso Consortium, the government-selected strategic equity partner for state-owned South African Airways (SAA). The plan was for Takatso to acquire a 51% stake in SAA and provide the airline with a welcome injection. After almost three years of trying to finalise the deal, it finally fell through in March this year after South Africa’s Competition Commission ordered Global and the other minority partner, Novick’s Syranix, to sell their 20% stake due to concerns of potential conflicts of interest due to the involvement with LIFT. Global Aviation and Syranix were unsuccessful in attempts to sell their minority shares.
