By Skies Magazine | January 17, 2020 Estimated reading time 3 minutes, 38 seconds.
Airbus’s long-awaited BelugaXL formally entered into service for the European OEM on Jan. 13.
The aircraft is the first of six hefty cargo planes to be introduced to Airbus’s fleet, which will replace the BelugaST fleet that is based on the company’s A300-600. The aircraft are used to carry completed sections of Airbus aircraft from different production sites around Europe to the final assembly lines in Toulouse, France and Hamburg, Germany. The XL is based on Airbus’s A330 and measures seven metres longer than the ST, which the company said provides a 30 per cent increase in transport capacity.
According to Airbus, the BelugaXL is being introduced as the company ramps up the production of its A350 XWV ultra-long-range, wide-body airliner, among other production rate increases, and can carry two of the A350 XWV’s wings as opposed to only one – the capacity of the BelugaST.
The aircraft – a behemoth by any measure – comes in at 63.1 metres long, eclipsing that of approximately two blue whales, the largest animal on the planet. From the bottom of the fuselage to the top of the cargo hold, the aircraft measures 18.9 metres high, equivalent to a three-to-four story building and with a maximum payload of 51 tons – meaning it could comfortably carry up to seven African elephants.
The BelugaXL is powered by a pair of twin Rolls-Royce Trent 700 turbofan engines, and it needs all that power to fly the 63×8 metre cargo bay – the largest cross-section of any cargo aircraft in the world. With a range of 2,200 nautical miles and a cruising speed of Mach 0.69, the fleet of massive planes is set to fly more than four million miles per year.
Aside from the technical aspects, the BelugaXL fully embodies its namesake. The cargo hold and fuselage combined form the shape of a beluga whale, and Airbus really leaned into the design by painting each XL with eyes and a mouth that envelops the aircraft’s cockpit.
Its entry into service comes after a five-year development period in which it logged over 200 test flights and received its European Aviation Safety Agency type certification in November 2019, two months before its introduction to Airbus’s fleet. The OEM anticipates all six of the new Belugas will be operational by the end of 2023.
Though it may be a while until we see them on this side of the pond, there’s no doubt these massive aircraft would be a wonder to see in the sky above – and if a chance pops up to catch a glimpse of the behemoth, one can only imagine it would blow you away.
