After decades of flying large aircraft sections for the in-house assembly of Airbus planes, the BelugaST ‘Super Transporter’ is getting a second life hauling “outsized freight” for contract customers, Airbus announced on Tuesday.
The aerospace giant said the new plan will allow it to take advantage of the remaining 20 years of life that BelugaSTs have and will allow it to transport helicopters and engines fully assembled. Larger BelugaXL planes will take over the Beluga STs’ previous missions.
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.
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 said: “The new airline will be flexible and agile to address the needs of external worldwide markets.”
To maximize 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.
Air cargo has been a bright spot during the Covid pandemic. Space on passenger jets plunged after airlines cut service due to weak demand for flights. Meanwhile, port snarls caused shipping delays, driving up prices — and demand — for faster shipping by air.
