beOnd announces $100M funding round, US partnership, new route to the Red Sea
Luxury airline beOnd has made a whole raft of announcements concerning its future expansion and growth.
Speaking at the TOURISE conference, an international travel summit taking place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, November 11-13, 2025, beOnd CEO, Tero Taskila announced that the Maldives-based airline has closed an additional US$100 million funding round from undisclosed investors.
The additional funding will help the startup airline expand beyond its core Maldivian market. Taskila reiterated that the aim of the airline is to obtain multiple Air Operator Certificates (AOC), in different jurisdictions in the Middle East, Asia and even the United States.
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Seeting up beOnd America
The United States in particular has become a new focus of growth for beOnd. In parallel to the latest funding round, the airline also announced the signature of a strategic partnership with US-based New Pacific Airlines in order to bring the beOnd premium service model to the US market.
New Pacific Airlines is the successor to Northern Pacific Airways, a startup airline launched in 2021 with the idea of connecting the continental United States to Japan and South Korea by way of Alaska (New Pacific Airlines is part of the same group as Ravn, an Alaskan regional airline which ceased operations in August 2025).
However, the project failed to materialize as originally intended due to a combination of operational, commercial, and regulatory issues.
After toying with several alternative business models, such as offering its aircraft to the government of the Northern Marianas archipelago in order to create a locally-based airline, and launching a limited number of domestic services out of Ontario International Airport (ONT), California, in 2024 Northern Pacific decided to focus on the charter market.
The carrier was also renamed New Pacific Airlines after US railway company BNSF asserted its right over the use of the “Northern Pacific” brand.
Under the terms of this agreement, which is still subject to regulatory approval, New Pacific Airlines will operate eight aircraft under the beOnd America brand.
However, it is currently unclear where these aircraft will be sourced. According to ch-aviation data, as of November 13, 2025, New Pacific Airlines operates Boeing 757-200 aircraft, which are the only aircraft in its fleet that appear to be suitable to beOnd’s business model. New Pacific Airlines also has four DeHavilland Canada DHC-8 turboprops, which were formerly used in the Alaskan regional operation and are currently listed as inactive.
BeOnd operates two aircraft, an Airbus A319 and an A321, both fitted with an all-business class cabin. The carrier’s strategic plan, however, calls for a significant expansion of its fleet within the next few years.
The rationale for this deal is to combine beOnd’s expertise in providing a high-end premium experience to leisure travelers with New Pacific Airlines’ pre-existing operational and commercial activity in the US market.
New routes to and from the Red Sea
However, beOnd’s most immediate route expansion is taking place on the other side of the world, with the launch of a new nonstop service between Milan Malpensa (MXP) and Red Sea International Airport (RSI). This twice-weekly service, which started on November 12, 2025, is the first direct connection to Europe from this airport, located on Saudi Arabia’s central stretch of the Red Sea coast.
Red Sea International Airport is a new greenfield airport which has been built to service the luxury tourism developments being constricted in that part of Western Saudi Arabia. As of November 2025, there have already been nine exclusive resorts, including the flagship AMAALA, built on an archipelago off the Kingdom’s Red Sea coast.
The airport, which has been designed with the needs of high-end clientele in mind, is already receiving flights from Riyadh (RUH), Jeddah (JED), Dubai (DXB) and Doha (DOH), but expects to continue adding international links as the tourism development project continues to take shape.
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Luxury airline beOnd has made a whole raft of announcements concerning its future expansion and growth. Speaking at…
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