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.
Well, the company has just made an absolutely massive announcement, including plans to launch a subsidiary in the United States. However, it remains to be seen how much of this will actually come to fruition.
In this post:
Beond Airlines plans global expansion with 56 planes by 2030
Beond Airlines currently operates a fleet of two aircraft, flying primarily to and from the Maldives. Well, the airline is now planning a multi-AOC strategy, and an additional investment round of $100 million, in support of its global expansion (for those not familiar, “AOC” stands for air operator certificate).
Beond hopes to use the new capital to:
- Expand Beond’s fleet to 56 aircraft by 2030, including 22 aircraft in the Maldives, 14 aircraft across GCC countries, 10 aircraft in the United States, and 12 aircraft in India
- Grow Beond’s charter platform for events, sporting teams, government delegations, and luxury travel agencies seeking round-the-world itineraries
Here’s how Beond CEO Tero Taskila describes this:
“In just two years, we have been accelerating inbound premium tourism into the Maldives. On the strength of this performance, we are partnering with local stakeholders in the Middle East, the United States, and India to open new AOCs and bases of operation. This enables us to serve global luxury travellers locally, bring our award-winning service to new fast-growing luxury markets, and continue building an ecosystem designed entirely around the needs of the modern luxury traveller, where design, comfort, and service work together seamlessly.”
Beond America to launch in partnership with New Pacific
Obviously I’m intrigued by Beond Airlines looking to launch operations in the United States, with an all-business class airline. So, what’s the strategy there? The company has announced plans for Beond America, and this will be launched in partnership with New Pacific Airlines. Yes, that’s the airline that wanted to launch flights connecting North America and Asia via Anchorage, but it never got off the ground.
As it’s described, the partnership combines Beond’s “global luxury brand” with New Pacific’s “FAA-certified operational expertise in specialized sports and government charter operations, as well as U.S. infrastructure.”
With this agreement, New Pacific will operate eight aircraft with the Beond brand and product. Those planes are expected to offer the same product you’ll currently find on Beond’s aircraft, so expect more Airbus A319s and A321s. The route structure and timelines remain subject to regulatory approval, but the goal is to be a Part 121 operator, meaning the airline can sell regularly scheduled commercial flights.
Here’s how Beond CEO Tero Taskila describes this:
“Our mission has always been to make premium leisure travel feel effortless, thoughtful, and emotionally rewarding. New Pacific as a partner brings operational depth in the United States and strengthens our multi-jurisdictional structure. Together, we can introduce more travellers to a premium leisure experience that focuses on comfort, calm and care from the moment the journey begins.”
Realistic growth plan, or desperate fundraising pitch?
It’s unclear the extent to which this announcement is a renewed fundraising pitch to raise more capital, rather than an actual reflection of a well thought out plan. The thing is, I wouldn’t be so skeptical if it weren’t for Beond Airlines’ previous announcements that bordered on fantastical.
When Beond launched in 2023, the airline said it would have 32 planes and would serve 60 destinations within five years. Over two years into operations, the airline only has two planes, and in multiple cases, the planes were just taken out of commercial service for weeks at a time, which isn’t exactly a good sign.
More recently, in April 2025, the company announced huge growth plans, suggesting it would add 18 new destinations “through 2025 and into 2026,” and it named specific destinations. That was bizarre:
- 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
- Over six months after the announcement, zero of those intended destinations have actually been announced
So you can’t just completely ignore a company’s track record. It just feels to me like many of Beond’s announcements are targeted at prospective investors, rather than an accurate reflection of what’s going to happen.
And partnering with New Pacific Airlines? Oh my, that’s rough, because that whole operation was a bit of a joke as well. If Global Airlines had an AOC, maybe Beond would’ve partnered with them instead.
The irony is that I actually think the ideas that Beond has now aren’t half bad. They’re things I’ve been saying the airline should consider all along. Yes, I think there’s absolutely merit to premium configured aircraft like this for charter operations. I also think there are other markets where these all-business class planes would work much better than the Maldives, which is a challenging market on so many levels.
So we’ll see what comes of this, and how much Middle East money Beond can get its hands on. But for now, I’d consider this announcement to be targeted at investors rather than consumers.
Bottom line
Beond Airlines has huge expansion plans, as the company is pursuing a multi-AOC strategy. The airline claims it wants to fly 56 planes by 2030, with subsidiaries in the Maldives, GCC, India, and the United States. So the airline also plans to set up Beond America, in partnership with New Pacific Airlines, to bring an all-business class operation to the United States.
These are some lofty goals for a company that has repeatedly shared some optimistic goals, but has struggled with execution. This all comes at the same time that Beond is seeking $100 million from investors to execute on this strategy, so you can’t help but be a bit skeptical about the prospects of this.
What do you make of Beond’s expansion plans?
There is a lot of money sloshing around, especially in the Dubai zip codes of the Middle East, where Beyond’s HQ is located, so I believe Ben is right with his statement that this is probly targeted at investors.
An announcement without substance is b-YAWN-ed unbelievable given their track record. Who knows, maybe it’ll happen, but I don’t buy a word of it right now.
Why do you never link to the actual press releases? It helps the reader to better understand what is going on, or at least what the airline is sharing, and gives you a SEO boost, assuming you link appropriately which I don't doubt you would do.
Seems like a no brainer.
@ 9C -- Fair point. So typically I do link to press releases. The reason I didn't link here is because I don't see the Beond America announcement on Beond's website yet. I did add the link to the other announcement, though. I'll continue to try to do this in the future.
Shooting from the hip, it always seemed to me there would be a market for 1-2 lie-flat seats on each airplane for U.S. domestic routes. For example, there are many people who fit in between the ~$800 recliner seat and the $50,000 private flight. I imagine a solid market of people who would pay $2k-3k to be conformable, like the transcontinental routes.
However, filing an entire plane with this customer would be difficult.
...Shooting from the hip, it always seemed to me there would be a market for 1-2 lie-flat seats on each airplane for U.S. domestic routes. For example, there are many people who fit in between the ~$800 recliner seat and the $50,000 private flight. I imagine a solid market of people who would pay $2k-3k to be conformable, like the transcontinental routes.
However, filing an entire plane with this customer would be difficult.
This is just my opinion backed by no actual data.
The data is there. It's in the actual airlines who have tried it in the past and failed. It doesn't work in the domestic market. Even premium heavy flights on mainline carriers have struggled on the often battled NYC-LAX routes. The reality is, why would you pay $3K for a one way between NYC and LAX for that product when you could get a seat with JetBlue in Mint for far less. Further, the prices...
The data is there. It's in the actual airlines who have tried it in the past and failed. It doesn't work in the domestic market. Even premium heavy flights on mainline carriers have struggled on the often battled NYC-LAX routes. The reality is, why would you pay $3K for a one way between NYC and LAX for that product when you could get a seat with JetBlue in Mint for far less. Further, the prices of private have dropped since many of those failures in the past leading the very top in the scale to easily book private jets.
Isn't Beond having a hard time filling up its one plane? What makes it think that they can expand and succeed?