20 years of Belugas in the air

Airbus is this week celebrating the maiden flight on 13 September 1994 of the Beluga cargo aircraft, named after the white whale because of its remarkable shape. The five aircraft transport aircraft component parts between Airbus’ European manufacturing sites.

The Beluga is based on the twin-engine A300-600R. With its impressive dimensions (56 m long, 17 m high, a fuselage diameter of 7.71 m and a main-deck cargo volume of 1,400m3), the Beluga can carry a maximum payload of 47 metric tonnes non-stop over a range of 1,660 km/900 nm.

The Beluga fleet is operated by Airbus Transport International (ATI), an Airbus subsidiary airline, and each Beluga crew is composed of a pilot, a co-pilot and a flight engineer.

Since 1995, the fleet of five Beluga aircraft replaced the ageing Super Guppy transporters in order to supply the Airbus final assembly lines in Toulouse and Hamburg. Today, more than sixty flights are performed each week between eleven sites, carrying parts for all Airbus programmes, including the A380's vertical tailplane and tailcone.

The Beluga remains a vital part in the Airbus production chain during the coming years. The assembly of the A350 XWB and the production ramp-up on other Airbus programmes will life make much busier for the Belugas. Activities will substantially increase over the next five years. Flight hours will double from 5,000 a year to 10.000.

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