April fooling: Lift Airline pranks South Africa

South Africa’s newest low-cost carrier, Lift Airline, teases South Africans by saying it has started up flights to the United States.

By: Lorne Philpot

Despite the craziness of life and the environment we live in, South Africans still have a sense of humour and find time to enjoy a laugh.

Lift Airlines is certainly no stranger to innovation or to using humour in its communication and marketing strategies.

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APRIL FOOL PRANK

The airline took to Instagram on Saturday 1 April saying it will be launching direct flights between SA and the USA. The post said that flights would be operating under a new brand, Elevator Airlines.  

The April fool’s prank was quickly detected by most but not by all. Some thanked LIFT for the laugh while others commented, asking the airline when it would be starting up flights to other cities in South Africa. One person said they were excited to see the launch of new direct flights between SA and the USA.   

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USING HUMOUR WITH CUSTOMERS

Following in the footsteps of South Africa’s former low-cost carrier Kulula.com, Lift Airlines often uses humour when communicating with customers and passengers.

Lift’s co-founder Gidon Novick was joint CEO of Comair, and founder of low-cost airline Kulula.com before starting up Lift Airlines over two years ago.  The Kulula brand was known for its humorous marketing efforts.

With the collapse of its parent company Comair in May last year, Kulula ceased all operations and the quirky low-cost carrier disappeared from the SA skies.  

ALSO READ: It’s about time: LIFT launches new Cape Town-Durban route      

INNOVATIVE LIFT AIRLINE

Lift, which is SA’s newest low-cost carrier, started scheduled operations in December 2020. The company is known for doing things differently.

The airline offers full flexibility on tickets, free coffees and wines for all passengers as well as the option of taking small pets in the cabin.   

Lift started scheduled operations over two years ago flying just one routing, Joburg to Cape Town. The airline recently introduced flights between Joburg and Durban.