BelugaXL now flies regularly to the Airbus plant in Getafe

The Beluga has been a trademark for Airbus since the 90s. Especially developed for the transport of aircraft parts of “smaller” Airbus aircraft, it is always a highlight to discover a Beluga in the sky. At the beginning of this year the fleet grew. In addition to the five original Belugas, there is now a further development of the model in the Airbus family, the BelugaXL.

The Beluga XL has a significantly increased cargo volume. Which, for the first time, makes it possible to transport a pair of A350 wings from A to B simultaneously. Of the three BelugaXLs built so far, No. 2 will now fly regularly to Getafe in Spain to pick up height control components and wing panels for the A350. For this purpose, there is an extra large cargo hangar. There, the giant can open its nose gate, protected from all weather conditions. This makes the use of the aircraft much more effective, because weather-related waiting times during loading are now a thing of the past. For this reason, such hangars are also available at other Airbus locations such as Hamburg, Toulouse and Broughton.

In the fourth quarter of this year BelugaXL No. 3 is also scheduled to begin official service. But what about BelugaXL No. 1? In fact, this aircraft is mostly used for further developments and flight tests. After all, Airbus plans to have a total of six of the new giants in service by 2023.

Picture © Julien.jeany / CC BY-SA

by Johanna Koyser