beOnd reroutes its Europe network through the Red Sea for winter

Malé-based premium leisure carrier beOnd will restructure most of its European services for the coming winter season, routing them through Red Sea International Airport in Saudi Arabia instead of Dubai, according to schedule filings reported by AeroRoutes.

The new one-stop Airbus A321 services from Velana begin with Milan Malpensa on 31 October — resuming the route that last winter became the first direct air link between Europe and the Saudi Red Sea development — followed in mid-December by London Heathrow, Moscow and Zurich at around three flights weekly each, with Paris and Munich after them. Two Dubai-routed A319 rotations continue, to Munich from 25 October and Zurich from 2 October, lifting combined Munich and Zurich service to four or five flights a week.

The move makes the small Maldivian carrier the busiest airline at the Saudi airport by destinations served, and the only one flying scheduled services beyond the Gulf from it, according to trade reporting — a distinction it holds alongside flydubai, Qatar Airways and Saudia. beOnd has signed a memorandum with the Saudi Air Connectivity Program and is reported to be pursuing a Saudi air operator certificate.

The product is the airline's whole argument: all-business-class cabins, fully lie-flat, on single-aisle aircraft. The carrier has committed a reported US$20 million to fit four additional A321s with 256 bespoke lie-flat seats from the Italian manufacturer Optimares.

It has been a recovering year for the airline, which faced reported liquidity strain in June before saying it had made the necessary progress on funding. A winter network built around Saudi Arabia's flagship tourism project — feeding Europe's premium traffic through the Red Sea to the atolls — is its answer.