Beond Airlines: This All-Luxury Carrier is Growing Fast

19.02.2024 - 23:21 / skift.com / Gordon Smith

With corporate traffic slow to recover after the pandemic, wealthy leisure travelers are filling first- and business-class seats. They’re also paying handsomely for the privilege. 

Now, one carrier is going a step further.

Dubai-based Beond Airlines is dedicating its entire aircraft to a super-premium leisure product. There’s no flimsy curtain here to separate the cabins; from the first row to the very back, every seat is a flamboyant lie-flat affair. 

The onboard experience includes fine dining, with Beond-branded fine china from William Edwards and cutlery from Robert Welch. The airline also offers a limousine flight transfer service for certain flights. Think big private jet, without the big price tag.

The start-up launched its first revenue flights last November with its maiden service from Munich, Germany to the Maldives. Speaking at the time, Tero Taskila, the Beond CEO, said his firm sought to “redefine the skies, where luxury, comfort, and exclusivity are not just ideals, but realities experienced by every traveler.”

Taskila’s comments were admirable, but cynics questioned the long-term viability of such an operating model.

After a modest start with just a single narrowbody plane, earlier this month the company confirmed that its second jet had arrived. 

The plan is for this aircraft to fly new routes, building on existing services from Munich, Zurich, and Riyadh. According to the airline, Milan, Dubai, and Bangkok are all in its sights for “mid-2024.”

The freshly delivered Airbus A321 is being overhauled to bring it up to Beond’s premium specifications. There will be seats for just 68 passengers – barely a quarter of the 220 capacity in a more traditional all-economy configuration.

That said, the jet will still offer more space than Beond’s original Airbus A319, which can only carry 44 guests. This smaller model was once operated by British low-cost carrier easyJet – proof that even planes can have glow-ups in their later years.

Although these aircraft look slick on the inside, there’s no hiding the fact that they are still single-aisle airliners, more typically found on short-haul regional flights. As a result, Beond services from Europe to the Maldives usually require a tech stop in Dubai to refuel.

The company was founded in January 2022 and is a joint venture formed by the investment house Arabesque and SIMDI Group, a Maldivian hospitality firm. Describing itself as “the world’s first premium leisure airline,” Beond has enormous ambitions. 

The business completed an oversubscribed seed round of $17 million in August 2023. According to the airline, early backers included family offices, angel investors, and strategic partners. Beond is now looking for investors for a series A round of $25