Latest BelugaXL He joined his five predecessors this month in Airbus Transport International (ATI)after serving as the program’s test platform since 2018. This new model, successor to the iconic A300-600ST ‘Beluga’aims to strengthen the company’s industrial capabilities.
He BelugaXL It offers 30% more payload capacity compared to its predecessor. The six specially ordered aircraft, built in Toulouse, France, transport subassemblies and components between Airbus manufacturing sites in Europe. Each mission has an average turnaround time of just 70 minutes, thanks to purpose-built loading facilities at plants in France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom.
The final transfer to ATI marks the closure of the program BelugaXLlaunched in 2014. The company details that the development team was centralized, bringing together some 1,000 Airbus engineers and suppliers to shorten decision cycles and simplify processes.
“We believed in BelugaXL, but also in what we call the BXL spirit: making the impossible possible,” says Bertrand George, who led the development of the plane. “Our brief was to halve the original development cost of the BXL and deliver the first aircraft, certified as a regular A330ceo, within five years.”
George remembers the excitement of the first flight: “What was a truck in the morning, was a plane in the afternoon.”
See also: Airbus put the first BelugaXL into service
Capacities and sustainability
Based on the A330-200Feach BelugaXL It has a payload capacity of 51 tons and a range of 2,200 nautical miles. The company defines itself as committed to sustainability, highlighting that the fleet of the BelugaXL can operate on a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) blend.
In 2023, the SAF accounted for more than half of the fuel consumption of TO YOU. According to the company, by 2030, all of the fleet’s flight operations will be carried out with SAF. The increased capacity of the BXL is expected to reduce the number of flights required compared to its predecessor.
TO YOU plans to operate the BelugaXL for thirty years. The program’s production infrastructure is being dismantled and stored, in case more BXLs are needed in the future. With the addition of the last aircraft to the fleet, Airbus concludes an important chapter in its history of domestic air transport.
