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The new local airline Lift will open its website for reservations on Tuesday (November 10) as it prepares to officially begin operations on December 10.
Founder Gidon Novick told the sunday time that the airline plans to offer flexibility to customers as well as competitive prices.
“Anyone who travels with us will have a totally flexible ticket and can change their flight as many times as they want free of charge. Our hypothesis is that with that in mind, people will feel more comfortable booking and less eager to travel, “he said.
However, Novick said the airline does not plan to undermine competitors or start a race to the bottom: “We will focus our efforts on adding value, not cutting prices. We want to redefine the customer journey from start to finish, ”he said.
Novick said customer payments will be kept in a separate structure until after the flights have been made, to prevent them from losing money in the event the airline goes bankrupt. This is a departure from global industry norms, he said.
“It is our basic belief that customers should not finance airlines and neither should governments,” he said. “No rational argument has been made to give anyone the confidence that it is necessary to put money into SAA that should have been invested in social projects and health care.”
Launch in a pandemic
The new airline is a partnership between established operator Global Aviation, Novick, and former Uber executive Jonathan Ayache. A group of highly experienced industry specialists have also joined the team.
Lift will have a low, debt-free fixed cost base and a flexible staffing and resource structure.
It will utilize Global’s existing infrastructure, aircraft, maintenance facilities, cabin crew and pilots and its central flight control facility, drawing on Global’s long experience in providing full leasing services for custom charter flights or for other airlines ( including Comair) when they need backup planes. .
Lift will initially operate three aircraft serving up to seven roundtrip flights a day on the Cape Town and George routes.
Novick has previously said that he is optimistic about the opportunity the pandemic provides to re-examine traditional business models and find out how things can be done differently.
He said the pandemic has created the possibility of affordably acquiring the key inputs to start an airline: planes, facilities and trained employees. A key focus for Novick is efficiency and cost reduction, which includes leasing aircraft at greatly reduced rates.
He added that there are high-quality maintenance facilities available that are much cheaper than a few months ago. Through experience, he found that airlines become less efficient the larger they get, so starting small gives a new airline a huge advantage.
Another Novick approach is flexibility. “With the uncertainty of the market, a flexible model that can adjust to market demand is essential,” he said.
He said that MyBroadband technology will play a very important role in increasing efficiency. “Technology has the ability to facilitate a fluid, efficient and attractive relationship with our future customers,” said Novick.
Read: Gordhan Says Analysts ‘Lack Financial Insight And Knowledge’ On SAA Bailout
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