LIFT

Is LIFT safe?

Yes. LIFT has flown South Africa's busiest domestic routes since December 2020 without an accident, and the company behind it, Global Airways, has never had a fatal crash. It is IOSA-registeredIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary, and South Africa's regulator scored about 95% in an ICAO audit in 2026. The catches are an MD-82 that Global Airways' certificate lost to a maintenance error in 2012, and age: LIFT flies second-hand A320s and has only six years of its own history. We score it 77.

LIFT is a brand of an ACMI airline

LIFT was set up in 2020, in the middle of the pandemic. It does not hold its own operator certificate. Its flights are flown by Global Aviation Operations, which trades as Global Airways, a Johannesburg company founded in 2001 that leases aircraft with crews, maintenance and insurance (ACMI) to other airlines in Africa, the Middle East and Europe. LIFT uses Global Airways' aircraft, crews, maintenance shop and certificate.

So the safety record that matters is Global Airways' record as a whole, including flights it operates for other airlines. Under our wet-lease rule, an event on a Global Airways aircraft flown by its own crew counts here, whichever airline sold the ticket. One example: on 18 October 2019 a Global Airways A320 flying for Mango, then SAA's low-cost airline, took off from Johannesburg for Cape Town after crew and engineer agreed to dispatch it under the minimum equipment list despite an oil leak at one engine's generator drive. At cruise the engine's oil quantity dropped from 17 to 9 quarts and the crew turned back, landing safely about 80 minutes after departure. SACAA opened an investigation.

The record so far

There has been no fatal accident under LIFT or Global Airways, and the one written-off aircraft is older than LIFT. On 13 November 2012 an MD-82, ZS-TOG, began its take-off run at Johannesburg on a charter to Lilongwe with 137 people on board. A "wheel not turning" light came on and the left wing dropped, so the captain aborted, and firefighters put out a fire at the left main wheels. No one was hurt. SACAA found that a main wheel replaced the day before had been fitted with incorrect installation and torque procedures, so its bearings failed. The report names the operator as Global Aviation Investments under certificate CAA/N835D, the certificate Global Airways lists today, and the Aviation Safety Network records the jet as written offHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary.

Public incidents are few. Apart from the 2019 oil leak, a LIFT A320 on flight GE133 from Johannesburg reported a hydraulic failure while descending into Cape Town on 10 October 2025 and landed normally; it was back in service the next day.

A short list of incidents is more meaningful in South Africa than in many places, because SACAA investigates and its reports are public. But LIFT is small, and six years with a handful of aircraft is not much flying. With the 2012 write-off on the same certificate, the accident record scores 84.

Oversight and audits

The South African Civil Aviation Authority is one of the stronger regulators in Africa. The FAA puts South Africa in Category 1FAA IASAThe US FAA's check of whether a country's aviation regulator meets ICAO standards. Category 1 means it does; Category 2 means it does not.More in the glossary, and an ICAO audit in 2026 gave it a preliminary 95.12%, according to Business Day. Global Airways operates under SACAA's Part 121 airline rules, holds an IOSA registrationIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary and became a full IATA member in early 2026 under the designator GE, a step aeroTELEGRAPH linked to plans for its first international route, Durban to Mauritius. It also holds an EASA third-country operator approval, which it needs to fly into Europe for other airlines. We score oversight 84, the same as Airlink.

Older A320s

LIFT describes its fleet as "4th generation" Airbus A320s, and in one sense that is fair: the A320 is a fly-by-wireFly-by-wireA flight control system in which the pilot's inputs go to computers, which then move the control surfaces. Many such systems also stop unsafe manoeuvres.More in the glossary jet with envelope protection and autoland, and its safety record is strong. But these are second-hand A320ceo models. In June 2026 LIFT had eight jets, six A320-200s and two Boeing 737s, all supplied by Global Airways, according to aeroTELEGRAPH. The newest addition, ZS-GAG, had flown for Tiger Airways Singapore and Virgin Australia before it reached Johannesburg. In May 2026 the company announced four "newer" A320ceos to share between LIFT and its leasing business. No average age is published, and there are no new-generation neo aircraft. We score the fleet 62.

How to fly LIFT more safely

• Expect aircraft swaps. LIFT says it sometimes uses Boeing 737s instead of A320s, and the same aircraft also fly ACMI contracts. Seat maps and exits change, so read the safety card on the day.
• Build slack into Cape Town winter trips. Winter cold fronts bring strong, gusty winds to Cape Town. A go-around or a late arrival is the safe outcome, so leave time for connections.
• Compare the alternatives on the same routes. FlySafair and Airlink answer to the same regulator; FlySafair has a longer clean record, Airlink a harder regional network.

How we scored it

Oversight (84) and the accident record (84: no fatal accident, one write-offHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary from a maintenance error in 2012) are the strengths. The fleet (62) is the weakest factor, with older second-hand A320s, and a short record limits incidents (70). The domestic network between well-equipped airports scores 72.