Premium leisure airline beOnd plans to expand in the United States, riding the wave of growing premium demand. The company signed a deal with New Pacific Airlines to launch beOnd America, an affiliated brand to “bring beOnd’s acclaimed all-business class travel experience to U.S. travelers through New Pacific’s U.S. operations.”
Our mission has always been to make premium leisure travel feel effortless, thoughtful, and emotionally rewarding. New Pacific as a partner brings operational depth in the United States and strengthens our multi-jurisdictional structure. Together, we can introduce more travelers to a premium leisure experience that focuses on comfort, calm and care from the moment the journey begins.
– Tero Taskila, CEO of beOnd
New Pacific’s existing FAA license and operational experience is key to the partnership. It allows beOnd to bring aircraft online flying routes to, from, and within the United States, without the drawn out regulatory process of establishing a new airline. It also allows the company to work around the foreign ownership limits that would preclude beOnd from launching its own operations standalone in the US.
Tom Hsieh, CEO of New Pacific Airlines, sees the partnership as an opportunity to “[deliver] something truly distinctive for American travelers — a boutique, luxury airline experience that blends comfort, design, and service excellence in a way not seen in U.S. skies.”
Also key to the offering: new planes. New Pacific is contracted to operate eight aircraft for the partnership. These will be A320-family aircraft acquired specifically for this purpose; New Pacific’s legacy 757 fleet is not part of the deal.
beOnd flies one A319 (44 seats) and one A321 (68 seats) today. The new A320/A321s are expected to have the same Optimares Maxima Plus seats on board, fitted with 58 seats for A320s and the same 68 seats on the A321s.
The seats are designed for couples and families traveling together, rather than with privacy doors more typical of business class services on other airlines today. Depending on the markets served, that could work out OK for the company.
All-premium charter operations are not new in the US market, though they’re relatively limited in scope. Most notable are carriers flying between the West Coast and Hawaii for second home owners. There’s also La Compagnie for all-premium transatlantic service, though the fleet plan suggests that won’t be in play here.
Timing of service launch and route details remain pending.
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