Alec Hogg: It’s a great time to fly domestically in SA

Got one of those unexpected welcome surprises yesterday when booking my flights from Johannesburg to Cape Town ahead of next week's Budget. The cost is under half what I paid a year ago. With SAA having hit the wall, I was expecting the opposite..Read also: Alec Hogg: Your inside track to the inaugural BizNews Investment conference.With prices in a similar range, I ended up booking on Lift, the new airline fronted by former Comair CEO Gidon Novick (above) and run by former Uber SA bossman Jonathan Ayache. The cost, at R1 440 return inclusive of a pre-booked seat, compares with the R3 700 British Airways charged me last year..Price wasn't the only reason for booking with Lift. Novick was the 16th interviewee in the longform biographical podcast we call The Alec Hogg Show – and one of the most interesting. Nor least because it takes a special kind of entrepreneurial fervour to launch an airline when the struggles of incumbents are very publicly documented..___STEADY_PAYWALL___.Read also: Alec Hogg: Long neglected 2U catches fire.Will Gidon, Jonathan and their team beat the odds and be around to tell the tale in a decade hence? I think so. Have a listen to the podcast and you'll probably agree. Here's the link to the interview: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6U7PqDc8lgCGIG9tys1ko6.NB FOR YOUR WALL STREET JOURNAL ACCESS….Because of The Wall Street Journal's credential requirements to access its site, your password MUST be at least 8 characters and include at least one letter and one number; and it MAY NOT contain any special characters (ie #, !, @ etc). To maintain access to WSJ.com, you MUST enter our partner's website at least once a month via BizNews Premium.And for your listening pleasure….Today's fresh audio on BizNews Radio.…..(click on the link to access).TAHS: Rejuvenated Gidon Novick back in industry he was born intoFB: Taxpayers inject another R5bn into SAA; Glencore; Spar; ResilientSA startup success; how the "Uber" of actuaries became a R35m businessCarrie's Corner: Talking brandy with Cape Winemaster Winnie Bowman

Alec Hogg: It’s a great time to fly domestically in SA

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