Moneyweb
SA’s youngest airline Lift plans to grow its fleet of aircraft by up to three times by the end of 2022, in part to cater for the void left by Comair.
Lift co-founder and CEO Jonathan Ayache tells Moneyweb that although expansion has been on the cards for the airline, Comair’s sudden exit from the market has expedited Lift’s growth plans.
"Our expansion plans have definitely been expedited … We’re looking to increase our fleet two to three times before the end of the year."
However, he says that in order to avoid the same fate suffered by Comair, any expansion beyond that will be dictated by market demand.
"Traditionally, airlines are very focused on growing their seat capacity and hope that there’s the demand when it isn’t there … We’re very focused on being demand-driven as opposed to being supply-driven and [wanting] growth at all costs."
Lift currently operates three Airbus A320 aircraft on its Johannesburg-Cape Town route, with each flight having a capacity of 162 passengers – 150 in the economy and 12 premium seats. This is less than the seating capacity offered by market competitor FlySafair, which operates about 24 Boeing-737 planes that can carry around 189 passengers per flight.
Despite having a common shareholder in the Takatso Consortium, which has been announced as the preferred bidder for a majority stake in the national carrier South African Airways (SAA), Ayache says Lift will not be replacing the grounded Mango Airlines as SAA’s low-cost carrier.
He says they are also looking to expand their presence to more local routes, such as Johannesburg-Durban, and to the Eastern Cape in the future.
