<p class="ingestion featured-caption">The Beond plane on the ground in Male before BI's flight to Milan.Taylor Rains/Business Insider</p><ul class="summary-list"><li>Beond, an all-business-class airline, launched in November 2023 with a 21-year-old Airbus A319 plane.</li><li>The Maldives-based airline flies to Europe and Asia and aims to expand routes with an Airbus A321.</li></ul><p><a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/beond-all-business-class-airline-beond-airbus-a319-review-8">Maldives-focused airline Beond</a> is a largely unknown startup.</p><p>The "premium leisure" carrier launched in November 2023 with a single, 21-year-old, all-business-class <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.planespotters.net/airline/Beond">Airbus A319-100</a> that flies from the Maldives to Europe and Asia.</p><p>Beond recently added a 22-year-old A321-200 to its fleet, which has more capacity but slightly less <a target="_blank" class href="https://aircraft.airbus.com/en/aircraft/a320-the-most-successful-aircraft-family-ever/a319ceo">range</a>, to fly to new destinations like Bangkok. By 2025, it wants to have 32 of the longer-ranged narrowbody Airbus planes in its fleet. </p><p>Despite its grand plans,<a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/worlds-only-all-business-class-airlines-beond-la-compagnie-review-2024-8"> the cards are stacked against Beond. </a>Other airlines, including British Airways, Qatar Airways, and Singapore Airlines, have tried to fly<a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/british-airways-airbus-a318-baby-bus-london-city-tour-2020-3"> premium-only planes long-haul</a> only to cut them because of high costs and strong competition. </p><p>Such a small fleet also leaves Beond with little flexibility should things go wrong. Plus, most of its "nonstop" flights have a fuel stop in Dubai, and other carriers have more frequency options by comparison.</p><p>I flew the airline for the first time in July 2024 to see how it compares to other niche <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/flying-worlds-only-all-business-airline-paris-newark-la-compagnie-2023-3">business-class-only competitors like La Compagnie. </a></p>