Hello from the Maldives (well, briefly… I’m just in transit, and am not actually entering the country). I just flew all-business class carrier Beond Airlines on the rather long flight from Milan to the Maldives via Dubai. The airline currently has a single Airbus A319 that operates routes to & from the Maldives, with destinations including Dubai, Milan, Riyadh, and Zurich, with more to come.
I’ve covered Beond Airlines quite a bit since it launched. It’s an intriguing airline startup, though I can’t make sense of the business model in its current form. The airline has also struggled with operating reliably.
So I’ll be perfectly honest. When I booked my Beond Airlines flight, I figured “oh, this is probably going to be a mess, and will make an entertaining story that readers will enjoy.” Well, I call things as I see them, and I have to say that the actual onboard experience on Beond exceeded my expectations, and was excellent. It greatly exceeded my expectations.
Yes, there are some quirks and areas for improvement, but for an airline only several months old and with a single plane, I wasn’t expecting it to be this good. While I’ll have a full trip report soon, let me share some initial impressions.
Beond Airlines’ A319 cabin is gorgeous… mostly
Currently Beond Airlines’ Airbus A319 is a 20-year-old Airbus A319 that used to fly for European low cost carrier EasyJet. Well, to say this plane got a facelift would be an understatement. How gorgeous is this aircraft, both inside and out?
Beond Airlines’ business class is in a 2-2 configuration, spread across 11 rows, with fully flat beds.
Admittedly these aren’t the most cutting edge seats, but keep in mind that Beond Airlines markets itself as the world’s first premium leisure airline. Everyone else on my flight (all eight people) were couples, so the 2-2 configuration is great for those purposes.
The standard seats in this configuration have a cutout at the side of the seat for your feet. While it’s not all that wide, at least it’s not a footwell that isn’t very high. I’d definitely recommend choosing a window seat over an aisle seat.
Then there are two rows of seats with ottomans (rows one and five), which offer a full ottoman rather than a cutout.
Yes, of course there are more cutting edge business class products out there, but also don’t underestimate how nice it is to fly on a jet with so few passengers. It eliminates so much of the stress ordinarily associated with flying, from long lines at check-in, to a very busy gate area, to a long boarding process. On this flight boarding started, and a minute later it was announced that boarding was complete. You won’t get that on an Emirates A380.
Now, there were some quirks to this A319. For example, it’s clear that the lavatories haven’t been updated in any way since the old days, and they didn’t even have any premium toiletries (the former is an expensive fix, the latter is a cheap fix).
Beond Airlines’ crews are surprisingly good
I was curious what kind of crews Beond Airlines had hired, so learning more was my favorite part about experiencing the airline firsthand. Interestingly the crews are all based in Dubai, and during the refueling stop, there’s a crew change.
There were a total of nine passengers on my flight, and on the first sector there were five flight attendants, and on the second sector there were four flight attendants. So there were as many passengers as flight attendants, and that doesn’t account for the pilots.
The flight attendants were from all over the world– Egypt, Italy, Spain, Myanmar, and beyond. And they all had extensive experience in the airline industry, with several having worked at other Gulf carriers for an extended period of time.
Were they the most polished bunch on earth? Well, to be honest, some were, and some weren’t. But they were uniformly friendly and provided service with a smile. For example, on my second sector I was served by an Egyptian flight attendant who was operating his first flight, and I couldn’t believe what a great job he did. I would have never guessed it was his first day.
Beond Airlines’ food, drinks, and amenities are impressive
Beond Airlines’ meal service is way above average for business class. There were two meals on this overnight journey, with a dinner served after takeoff on the Milan to Dubai flight, and breakfast served after takeoff on the Dubai to Male flight. In each case, a full three course meal was served.
This was truly a restaurant quality dining experience with very good quality food and drinks, and also very nice presentation.
As the starter for my dinner, I selected the burrata with marinated avocado and oven dried tomatoes.
Then for the main course, I selected the slow cooked cod with risotto cake, grilled vegetables, and veloute.
Lastly, for dessert I had the almond and mascarpone slice.
Breakfast was equally impressive. For the starter, I selected the watermelon salad with zaatar halloumi, which was probably my favorite thing I had on this flight. It looked good, but tasted even better.
Then for the main course, I ordered the North African mesfouf, which was also yummy.
Lastly, for dessert (I mean, who doesn’t have dessert with breakfast?!) I had the lemon chiboust with mixed berries.
Seriously, how good does this food look? The only quirk is that there’s no espresso machine onboard, but only brewed coffee. I find that to be strange, and hopefully that changes eventually…
The amenities were solid as well, but more on that in the full review…
Beond Airlines’ entertainment is underwhelming
Beond Airlines’ entertainment situation is a weak point of the experience, in my opinion. Each passenger is handed an iPad at the beginning of the flight, which they can use to access a library of streaming entertainment. What I find strange is that even though the airline has the Wi-Fi network, there’s not actually Wi-Fi.
To me this is a major weak point of the experience. Sure, leisure travelers don’t need Wi-Fi as badly as business travelers, but it’s nice to be able to message with friends and family. Furthermore, even for leisure travelers, it’s nice to get caught up on work before and after you go on holiday. I imagine that this is something the airline will eventually introduce.
I must admit, I spent much of the flight just sitting there and enjoying the environment. Or I guess “raw dogging,” as the kids call it nowadays.
Beond Airlines’ Dubai refueling stop is kind of a buzzkill
While Beond Airlines operates nonstop flights from Male to Dubai and Riyadh, all of the carrier’s services to Europe route through Dubai World Central Airport (DWC).
I can appreciate that Beond probably wanted to start operations with a lower cost plane (since you can pick up a used A319 for very little) and just outfit it very nicely, but I think in the long run, it would be a game changer if the airline could pick up longer range jets (which I believe is in the carrier’s plans).
The total flight time between Milan and Male was just over 10 hours (not including the hour stop in Dubai). The issue is, this breaks up the flight into a flight of just under six hours, and a flight of just over four hours. This makes it really hard to get any substantial amount of sleep. You can maybe get just under three hours on the first flight, and then it’s hard to get any real sleep on the second flight, since it’s not that long, and is during the day.
Then again, I suppose many other people traveling to the Maldives are connecting in the Middle East anyway, so at least you get to stay on the plane.
I think my even bigger concern is the operational challenges the airline faces, having just one plane. For example, my flight was around 2.5 hours late, due to a combination of a late inbound, plus the flight taking a bit longer than usual. Obviously an airline with one jet doesn’t have the amount of schedule flexibility that a larger airline would have.
I’m rooting for Beond Airlines, but remain confused
I’ve had my doubts about Beond Airlines since it launched, because a lot of what we’ve been told just didn’t make much sense to me. For example, the airline has the stated goal of operating 32 aircraft within five years, flying to 60 destinations. Assuming the plan is to operate those planes out of the Maldives (which is where the aircraft are registered), that seems unrealistic to me).
However, having now flown the airline, I have a new respect for the fact that the airline is at least serious about hiring professional staff, having a great passenger experience, etc. Is there work to be done? Of course. But I’d love to see the airline succeed.
Now, I think that will require a serious pivot in the business model. I have a lot of thoughts there, but I’ll save that for another post. I’d love to see a premium airline like this scale, but I just don’t think the Maldives is the market for that.
In the meantime, I hope the airline is well funded, and can focus on the markets where planes seem to be quite well booked (like Riyadh, apparently).
Bottom line
I’ve been intrigued by Beond Airlines since the company launched operations in late 2023. Sometimes you fly an airline and it’s exactly what you expect, sometimes it exceeds expectations, and sometimes it disappoints. Despite a few oddities with the product, there’s something really nice about flying a jet of this size, with so few people. I’m curious how the carrier’s business model evolves over time, because I don’t see service between Europe and the Maldives working profitably on a year-round basis.
What’s your take on Beond Airlines’ business class?
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