Luxury airline Beond takes wellness...

Travellers can add a VitaDrip treatment to bookings with The Elixir Clinic in Dubai

Flight bookers take note. There is a new add-on in town that goes above and beyond the usual car hire, travel insurance or hotel reservation.

That’s because Beond, the world’s first premium leisure airline, has teamed up with The Elixir Clinic to offer passengers VitaDrip intravenous therapy and literally take wellness to new heights.

The all-business-class boutique airline made its debut in November 2023 with passenger services from Munich, Zurich and Riyadh to Malé, Maldives, launching its Dubai-Maldives route in April 2024, and adding direct flights between Zurich in Switzerland and Dubai in the UAE a month later.

Beond passengers will be able to add the treatment to their flight booking to be redeemed before or after the flight at The Elixir Clinic locations in the UAE, on flights between Dubai and the Maldives or Zurich. Beyond says this will enable passengers to enhance their energy, hydration and wellness before take-off or after landing.

However, it’s important to note Beond is not offering treatments inflight.

Wellness is undoubtedly a focus for global airlines, with many initiatives aimed at both calming the nervous flyer and making sure they arrive at their destinations as fresh as possible.

These range from inflight entertainment providing meditation and in-seat exercise routines, to providing healthy catering options.

Gone are the days of Virgin Atlantic offering free inflight massages and manicures to First Class passengers. Back in the 1990s, the airline employed some 250 beauty therapists, but they were grounded in 2008 when boss Richard Branson decided to focus on expanded spa services at the airline’s flagship Heathrow Clubhouse.

The closest you currently get to a spa in the sky is flying with UAE airlines Emirates or Etihad, who both have onboard shower spas on their A380 aircraft. These are available for First Class passengers on both airlines, and as an ensuite for Etihad’s ultimate The Residence.

The lack of a foot massage at 35,000 feet could all change. As Emirates showed with its Business Class cocktail bar on the A380, it is prepared to experiment to enhance the customer experience and (like Virgin in the 1990s in a battle with BA) have a point of difference between a competitor.

Emirates President Tim Clark said that the bar was designed at the back of the aircraft on the upper deck so if it wasn’t popular, they could swap it out for eight extra Business Class seats in just 96 hours. Clark has yet to call ‘time’ on this popular service.

That same section could accommodate a spa area, with a concept already designed by Dubai Aviation Engineering Projects, which usually designs Dubai’s terminals.

So while Beond’s drip promotion is a shot in the arm for travellers, could inflight facials and massages make a comeback?

For more information, visit www.flybeond.com

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