Following Swvl and VavaCars, the bus company Airlift has announced the permanent shutdown of its operations in Pakistan, unsettling the already shaky start-up sector of the nation. Airlift then switched to the last-mile delivery segment.
The company said in a statement released on Wednesday that the recent downturn in the stock markets and the worldwide recession were the main causes of the shutdown. It asserted that economic activity in general had a “devastating influence” on its business, causing it to cease operations on July 12.
Airlift released a statement that included various additional explanations for its premature demise and said, “This has been an extraordinarily stressful decision that effects a vast set of stakeholders and an expanding technology ecosystem.”Unfortunately, the news is not shocking, especially in light of the recent economic difficulties Pakistan has been experiencing.
The start-up ecosystem in the nation is currently shaken by the tremors of soaring gasoline prices, the global recession, local unpredictability, limited foreign investment, and the challenge of finding sponsors, prompting businesses to scale back operations, fire employees, and roll back services.
Among the businesses to accomplish this recently are Careem, Swvl, VavaCars, and Truck It In. Concerning Airlift, warning indicators were seen long before the last bomb was dropped.The business, dubbed the “poster-child” of Pakistan’s startup sector by the media, was introduced in 2019 with a mass-transit service.
The Covid-19, which kept people indoors all over the world, was also invented in the same year that Airlift was.So what happens since there are no people to carry for a company founded on the idea of moving people? The company switched to rapid commerce (also known as q-commerce) the next year after recognising an opportunity. Users could order groceries, fresh produce, and other necessities from the Airlift website or app, and it would be delivered to their doorsteps within 30 minutes. It also offered delivery services.
