Airbus’ iconic Beluga super transporters ready to serve global outsized-cargo demand

Airbus has launched a new air-cargo service using its unique BelugaST fleet to offer freight companies and other potential customers a solution to their outsized freight transportation needs.

The new service - Airbus Beluga Transport - will provide commercially-contracted customers in a variety of sectors, including space, energy, military, aeronautic, maritime and humanitarian sectors, with a solution to their large cargo transport needs.

The first mission took place at the end of 2021 with a delivery from Airbus Helicopters’ manufacturing site in Marignane, France, to Kobe in Japan for an undisclosed customer. Beluga #3 stopped to refuel at Warsaw (Poland), Novosibirsk (Russia) and Seoul (Korea).

Phillippe Sabo, Head of ATI and Air Oversize Transport at Airbus, said: “The Beluga’s wider cross-section will open up new markets and new logistical possibilities for customers. In the case of loading helicopters - not having to dismantle them first - really is a plus. Similarly, the largest commercial aircraft engines can be accommodated in a fully-dressed configuration.”

Based on the A300-600 design, the five-strong BelugaST fleet, which has until now been the backbone of Airbus’ inter-site transportation of large aircraft sections, are being replaced by six new-generation BelugaXLs to support Airbus’ ramp-up of its airliner production.

The new Airbus Beluga Transport service can cater for a multitude of possible market applications since the planes possess the world's largest interior cross-section of any transport aircraft, accommodating outsized cargo of up to 7.1m in width and 6.7m in height.

In the near future, once Airbus has commissioned all six new BelugaXLs, the fully-released BelugaST fleet will be handed over to a newly-created, subsidiary airline with its own Air Operator Certificate (AOC) and staff. Philippe Sabo added: “The new airline will be flexible and agile to address the needs of external worldwide markets.”

To maximise the BelugaST’s turnaround capability for its targeted international customer base, new loading techniques and equipment are being developed for the operation. These solutions include an automated On-Board Cargo Loader (OBCL) for missions where a loading/unloading platform is not available at the origin or destination airport.

 

Rolls-Royce Engines to Power New Airbus Beluga XL Transporter

Rolls-Royce has been selected by Airbus to provide Trent 700 engines and long-term TotalCare® engine service support, worth US$700 million for five new Beluga XL air transporter aircraft.

The aircraft will replace the current Airbus Beluga fleet, which is powered by engines from another provider.

The Beluga XL, based on the A330 design, was launched in November 2014 to address the A350 XWB ramp up and the transport capacity requirements for other programmes. Compared to the current Beluga, the Beluga XL will provide Airbus with an additional 30 per cent air transport capacity.

Bertrand George, Airbus Senior Vice-President, Head of Beluga XL programmes, said: "We look forward to the Trent 700 powering this important development in our air transport strategy. The engine has an excellent record on the A330 and is ideally suited to our requirements for this aircraft."

Simon Carlisle, Rolls-Royce, Executive Vice President, Strategy and Future Programmes - Civil Large Engines, said: "We welcome this decision to select an engine that is the clear market leader on the A330 and offers outstanding performance in terms of fuel burn, reliability, emissions and noise."

The Trent 700 has won more than 60 per cent of new orders over the last three years. The Trent 700 now accounts for 90 per cent of A330 freighters in service and on order.

More than 1,500 Trent 700s are now in service or on firm order, making it the largest in-service Trent engine.

Contributed by Rolls-Royce 

Airbus to expand oversize air transport capability

To industrially accompany the A350 XWB ramp-up and other aircraft production rate increases, Airbus took the decision to launch the development and production of five new Belugas.

The new Beluga will be based on the A330 with a large re-use of existing components and equipment. The distinctive looking lowered cockpit, the cargo bay structure and the rear-end and tail will be amongst the items which will be newly developed.
The first of the five new Belugas will enter in service in mid-2019. The existing Beluga fleet will operate in parallel, and will be progressively retired through to 2025.

The current Beluga fleet of five aircraft is based on the A300. The "Beluga", is Airbus’ unique method for transporting large aircraft components– between company production sites in Europe. Airbus had already l launched “the Fly 10000” project aiming at doubling the current Beluga capacity by 2017. However the current capacity is limited and the new Beluga fleet will close this capacity gap.

With its flexibility and short transport lead-times, oversize air transport is a cornerstone of Airbus’ industrial operations

Photos: Paul Bannwarth - TLS

Beluga celebrates the 20th anniversary of its first flight

Flight hours per aircraft have since doubled and will do so again by 2017
With its maiden flight on September 13, 1994, the popular Beluga cargo aircraft, affectionately named after the white whale because of its remarkable shape, is celebrating this week twenty years of transporting Airbus component parts between Airbus’ European manufacturing sites.

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 crucial parts for all of the Airbus programmes, including the A380*.

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.

With the production start of the A350 XWB in 2012 and the production ramp-up on other Airbus programmes, the Beluga activities again will substantially increase over the next five years.

In order to accompany this challenge, Airbus launched in 2011 the Fly 10 000 project. Flight crew numbers and flight hours have grown and loading procedures have been further optimized, with the opening of new integrated loading facilities in Hamburg and Bremen in Germany and Saint-Nazaire in France. Broughton, UK and Getafe, Spain will follow soon. Fly 10,000 should allow the Beluga fleet to double its activities by 2017 (from 5,000 to 10,000 flight hours).

“The Beluga is an essential element of Airbus’ integrated logistics and production ‎system. It is thanks to its reliability and engagement of the Beluga teams that we can fulfil our constant pursuit of efficiency”, said Günter Butschek, Airbus Chief Operating Officer.

The Beluga is based on the twin-engine A300-600R, appreciated for its reliability and its cost-effectiveness. It is powered by General Electric CF6-80C2 engines. 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 is the champion of its category (compared with the Antonov AN-124 or even the C-17). The Beluga can carry a maximum payload of 47 metric tonnes non-stop over a range of 1,660 km/900 nm.

*only the Vertical Tailplane and tailcone, all other A380 components being transported through the “multimodal transport system (sea, river, road).

AIRBUS - A300F4-608ST Beluga - F-GSTD

Alain Charpentier - TLS

AIRBUS - A300 BELUGA -

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F-GSTB
Paul Bannwarth - TLS

Airbus Transport International - F-GSTC (Airbus A300F4-608ST Beluga)

João Luis Pessoa - TLS