What’s Going On With The Maldives’ Beond Airlines? Not Much…

Beond Airlines launched operations in 2023, and it brands itself as the world’s first premium leisure airline. The company is headquartered in Dubai, but primarily operates flights to and from the Maldives. I reviewed the airline last year, and the onboard product was super pleasant (it was a surreal experience, given how empty the flight was).

The company’s business model has made little sense to me, and in particular, the growth aspirations seemed mighty lofty. Along those lines, I want to take a look at the latest…

Beond Airlines isn’t doing all that much flying

Before Beond launched operations in 2023, executives at the company claimed the airline would serve 60 destinations within five years, using 32 aircraft. Nearly two years after launching operations, the airline has a single aircraft in commercial service.

For a while I wondered if the airline had given up on its expansion goals, though in April 2025, the company announced huge growth, suggesting it would add 18 new destinations “through 2025 and into 2026.” For an airline that flies to six destinations (some only seasonally), quadrupling destinations in one year is quite something, especially with no additional planes on order.

So, how is that all materializing? Beond currently has two aircraft:

• An Airbus A319 with the registration code 8Q-FBA, which was delivered to the airline in August 2023
• An Airbus A321 with the registration code 8Q-FBB, which was delivered to the airline in March 2024

Let’s start with the A321 — long story short, Beond isn’t using that plane for commercial operations. It briefly operated some commercial flights in late 2024 and early 2025, before doing some charter flights. Now the plane has been parked in the UAE since June 26, 2025, so it’s coming up on two months of not having flown.

What about the A319? This is the primary plane the airline uses for commercial operations, but even that plane isn’t doing all that much flying. For example, looking at aircraft movements this month, the plane didn’t fly between August 10 and August 15, and it didn’t fly between August 17 and August 22.

This morning, the plane flew from Male (MLE) to Abu Dhabi (AUH), and now it’s over Ethiopian airspace, headed to some unknown destination (using a non-commercial flight number).

What does the carrier’s schedule look like in the coming weeks? Based on the tickets that Beond is currently selling on its website, the airline has a Male to Dubai (DWC) flight on sale for tomorrow, August 23, 2025 (I question if that will operate, given that the plane is currently headed to… well, not Male).

After that, there are no flights available for sale until September 18, when the airline has a flight scheduled to Riyadh (RUH).

Keep in mind that Beond is notorious for last minute flight cancellations, so I wouldn’t necessarily count on all of that sticking. Admittedly it’s low season in the Maldives, but the company’s whole argument was that the seasonal fluctuation isn’t that big, and there would be demand for flights year-round.

I’m curious what’s next for Beond Airlines

Nothing about Beond makes a whole lot of sense to me. Up until earlier this year, I thought “okay, maybe they realized that serving 60 destinations within five years is unrealistic, and they just want to run a smaller operation with one or two planes.”

But then the airline announced it would add 18 destinations within a year, with no actual concrete details. That’s not how any of that works, and it certainly doesn’t instill much confidence.

I’m obsessed with the airline industry, and what I love most about it is how it’s such an industry of passion. People don’t (typically) get into it for the money, they get into it because they’re obsessed with it.

So I don’t want to be negative when there are startups, but some ideas just make very little sense, and we see the same type of song and dance over and over. Whether it’s Air Belgium, or New Pacific Airlines, or Global Airlines, or… well, whatever.

There’s no reason Beond couldn’t pivot. If nothing else, I imagine these all-business class planes could be chartered out in a way that at least allows the company to break even. For that matter, it seems like there are endlessly better markets from which a premium airline could operate than the Maldives.

Beond is essentially just taking on the Gulf carriers in all kinds of markets to the Middle East and Europe, and those aren’t airlines you want to have to compete with, especially in such core markets. That’s especially true when you don’t even offer Wi-Fi, and your plane has to make a fuel stop in Dubai before continuing to Europe, eliminating one of the main competitive advantages that Beond could have over carriers like Emirates…

Bottom line

All-business class carrier Beond Airlines has been flying for nearly two years now. A few months back, the airline claimed it would add 18 new destinations within a year or so. None of that has materialized.

Instead, the carrier’s A321 has been parked for a couple of months now, while the carrier’s A319 is operating rather sporadic service, and has only been in service for roughly half of August so far, with no flights on sale for a period of around three weeks.

What do you make of the current Beond situation?