I flew a little-known, all-business-class airline that flies long-haul to the Maldives. See inside its narrowbody Airbus jets. [Video]

Maldives-focused airline Beond is a largely unknown startup.

The “premium leisure” carrier launched in November 2023 with a single, 21-year-old, all-business-class Airbus A319-100 that flies from the Maldives to Europe and Asia.

Beond recently added a 22-year-old A321-200 to its fleet, which has more capacity but slightly less range, to fly to new destinations like Bangkok. By 2025, it wants to have 32 of the longer-ranged narrowbody Airbus planes in its fleet.

Despite its grand plans, the cards are stacked against Beond. Other airlines, including British Airways, Qatar Airways, and Singapore Airlines, have tried to fly premium-only planes long-haul only to cut them because of high costs and strong competition.

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.

I flew the airline for the first time in July 2024 to see how …