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Maldivian all-business class carrier, BeOnd, has announced it will temporarily suspend all flights until October. This comes as the airline industry faces strong headwinds with the unprecedented increase in fuel costs. As first reported by One Mile At A Time, the carrier will suspend operations across the Northern Hemisphere summer season, with intentions to return its non-stop and one-stop services between Europe, the Middle East, and the picturesque islands of the Maldives.
Currently, BeOnd operates just two aircraft and shuttles all its business-class aircraft between the Maldives and Europe, with a technical stop in Dubai. The airline thus far has received good reviews, with a delightful onboard cabin. However, with such a niche service type, this makes airlines vulnerable when market conditions can change.
BeOnd Will Have No Flights This Summer Due To Ongoing High Fuel Costs
As we are all acutely aware, the Iran crisis and the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz have sent gas prices soaring, and for many airlines, they are unable to cover the costs of the exorbitant increase in fuel costs that they are facing. This crisis has sent shockwaves around the world, and we are seeing airlines scaling back services and consolidating routes.
BeOnd, which first launched back in 2023, has a unique service type where it boasts an all-business class cabin on its Airbus A319 and A321 aircraft, and provides a high-caliber service for high-paying travelers to be transported to the Maldives and its beautiful beaches and five-star resorts.
Given that the airline operates its European services with a technical stop in Dubai, ongoing airspace closures are likely to have played into the airline’s decision to suspend operations temporarily. With this news, it is expected that passengers with current reservations will be affected, and the airline is promising to make contact within the next three days to offer date changes or refunds.
Will BeOnd Return To The Skies?
One may wonder if the airline’s decision to suspend all operations could be the writing on the wall. The airline hopes to return to regular operations as soon as conditions return to normal. In an interesting move, picked up by OMAAT, the airline has quietly removed its customer promise, in which the airline would previously guarantee the booking onto another airline in business class if BeOnd had to cancel.
Instead, BeOnd now states that it will ‘support you every step of the way’, which would imply that they will give you advice on what would be the best option for rebooking or rescheduling travel plans. On the airline’s website, it continues to promote its upcoming winter schedule, which is its ‘biggest yet’, and is available for booking now.
Earlier this year, BeOnd announced it planned to extend its winter schedule with additional one-stop itineraries to Europe with the introduction of services to 
London Heathrow Airport (LHR) and 
Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport (CDG), complementing its current services to 
Munich Airport (MUC), Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP), and Zurich Airport (ZRH). Additionally, the carrier serves destinations in Saudi Arabia, including Riyadh Airport (RUH) and the Red Sea (RSI), and Dubai (DWC), to Male (MLE).
This Luxury All-Business Airline Is Launching London & Paris To Maldives Flights In December
The new services to London and Paris will also be complemented by the airline’s expansion of services to Zurich and Munich.
A Unique Way To Travel To The Maldives
As already mentioned, BeOnd commenced operations on November 15, 2023, after almost two years of planning by Max Nilov and Tero Taskila, as part of a joint venture between Arabesque and SIMDI Group. The Maldives is a popular tourist destination in the Indian Ocean, and currently, the only way to enter the country is by air.
The airline’s first aircraft arrived in August 2023, which was an all-business class Airbus A319 that had 44 lie-flat seats. A second aircraft joined in September 2024, with 68 lie-flat business class seats.
While the airline’s current network is modest with destinations in Europe and the Middle East, the airline does have grand plans to one day also serve destinations in Asia (such as Singapore, Taipei, Hong Kong, and Delhi), and even Australia (Melbourne and Perth). Let’s hope the airline’s suspension over the summer is only temporary and the carrier bounces back quickly later this year.
