Beond's goal to combine an overnight flight experience somewhere between a private jet and business class, though it is closer to business class.
Flying to the Maldives from Zurich, Riadyh, and Munich may not sound like a viable flight plan for most U.S. travelers. The stunning island nation is primarily a vacation hotspot for Europe, Africa, and Asia, but a bit too far for most Americans. ButAirlines could well be a template for an adventurous U.S. air firm looking for a fresh business model. Based in the Maldives’ capital, Malé, the start-up believes it has found a sweet spot between business class and business jets.
Having launched in November 2023, Beond plans to grow its fleet to seven in 2025, when it plans to take delivery of a larger Airbus A321 followed by longer-range A321neos. “We considered the Boeing 737 as an option,” Tero Taskila, CEO and cofounder of Beond, told“But the fuselage of the A320 is more spacious and the A321 has more range in a lower-density configuration.”
Boarding with an Opulence ticket in Zurich, I had no idea what to expect from an airline that markets itself as “the world’s first luxury leisure airline.” “The cabindifferent,” Taskila noted in our conversation. “We tried to create a distinguished private-jet-style cabin that’s not directly comparable to business class.”There are, in fact, more similarities with business class with Beond’s 2-2 cabin configuration than the layouts of most business jets.
How was the experience? Generally very pleasant, considering it was an 11-hour flight. There were a few lows like pre-departure in Malé, which included time in the tired, outdated Leeli lounge On the other hand, I was the only passenger in the Aspire-run lounge in Zurich, and made the most of the Champagne a la carte dinner. The required fuel stopover in Dubai is also disruptive for anyone trying to sleep through, but the company says the longer-range A321neos will eliminate that.
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