Beond turns one, big achievements despite challenges

One year ago this month, 'Beond' started its operations with an entirely out of the box concept - the first ever premium leisure airline; a title it still proudly maintains.

The business class only airline is a product of a joint venture between Maldives' hospitality group SIMDI Group and UAE's investment firm Arabesque. Every service offered and facility on board Beond is carefully curated to ensure its passengers disembark with a luxurious experience.

The airline, which introduced a second aircraft to its fleet, a 68-seater A321, had its seats designed by Optimares, with its fine leather seat shells by Ferrari, making the seats comfortable and easy to lie on as the aircraft cruises through the skies. The seats are also lined with lightweight carbon fibre leather, and inflight entertainment is perfected with Apple's ipad Pros.

Beond, which connects Maldives with the rest of the world using the latest technology, launched its services with an A319 aircraft that holds a capacity of 44 passengers. Although the airline launched operations between Maldives and Munich, Germany as well as Riyad, Saudi Arabia, it now flies to Milan, Italy and Dubai as well.

In the premium market last year, demand for Beyond's flights for scheduled as well as chartered flights grew exponentially, meeting its goals for the year. Tero Taskila, Beond's CEO and Chairman described its first year as a success as well.

He said that the goals they set for the airline were met, and attributed this to markets picking up when others drop, adding that this allowed them to reach the amount of flights they aimed for.

Taskila also highlighted the challenges they faced due to Beond being a premium airline. However, he said that they were overcome with joint efforts of key industry players, and lessons learned along the way.

He went onto say that their plan for the next four years is to make 27 aircrafts operational, and fly to 54 destinations globally. This includes adding four new aircraft to its fleet during the second half of 2025, and adding three to four new destinations with each vessel.

Today, Beond celebrated one year of operations, and unveiled the new A321 aircraft added to its fleet, which currently operates between Riyad and Maldives. However, the airline is now preparing to commence trips to China, India, and Saudi Arabia's Jeddah.

The aircraft is also available for charters now.