An Airbus Beluga XL transport plane flies in Toulouse, France. (Image: Reuters)
Airbus Beluga transports aircraft parts between manufacturing facilities of Airbus, spread throughout Europe.
The Airbus Beluga, one of the world’s strangest and largest airplanes, has its own airlines now, US-based broadcaster CNN said.
The Airbus Beluga, which shape resembles that of a beluga whale, is an oversized cargo plane and also a fan favourite among aviation enthusiasts. It has been in service for close to two decades and mainly transports aircraft parts between Airbus’ manufacturing facilities spread throughout Europe.
Benoît Lemonnier, head of Airbus Beluga Transport, told the broadcaster that a new version of the Beluga is replacing the original fleet and will power a freight airline called Airbus Beluga Transport.
“There are very few options on the market for oversize items. Most often there’s a need to partially dismantle a payload to make it fit in an aircraft — whereas in the Beluga, it will just fit,” says Benoît Lemonnier, head of Airbus Beluga Transport was quoted as saying by the broadcaster.
“The Beluga was developed to transport large sections of Airbus aircraft from its factories in France, Germany, the UK, Spain and Turkey to the final assembly lines located in Toulouse and Hamburg. It is a very special design, because it’s actually a transformation of an A300-600 that had its entire head removed and then equipped with special fuselage shells, a bigger door and dedicated flight equipment,” he further added.
The super transporter Airbus Beluga also landed at the Kolkata airport in November 2022, instantly becoming an exhibit for travellers flying in and out of the city due to its sheer size.
The whale-shaped plane, used to transport outsized cargo, arrived at Kolkata airport from Ahmedabad that year for refuelling and crew rest and departed the city for Thailand after the short stop.
The super transporter was earlier known as the Airbus Super Transporter but after its nickname Beluga – given due to its resemblance to the white Arctic whale – became popular Airbus decided to rename the aircraft Beluga ST, retaining the original part in the acronym.
It first flew in 1994 and entered service in 1995. Over the years, four more examples followed, with the last rolled out in late 2000.
Before the Beluga, Airbus used Super Guppies, modified 1950s Boeing Stratocruiser passenger planes previously used by NASA to ferry spacecraft parts. History is now repeating itself as the original Beluga is replaced by a more spacious and advanced model, the Beluga XL.
Longer and bigger than its predecessors, the Beluga XL can carry both wings of the Airbus A350, the company’s latest long-haul aircraft that rivals the Boeing 787 and 777.
