Airbus presented its sixth aircraft A330-700 or simply known as Beluga XL, this also at least for now is the last aircraft of this line manufactured. As of now, the manufacturer has six models for transporting components and parts of other aircraft between factories around the world.
This sixth freighter has some differences in its livery compared to the other Beluga XL. Airbus kept the base of the painting with the reference number on the tail and the logo in the middle of the fuselage and the eyes drawn on the sides that, together with the mouth made on the cockpit windows, form the 'face' of a whale in reference to the name of the aircraft that is Beluga, a species of white whale.
On this sixth plane, the eye drawn on the left side is blinking, in addition to a message written on the fuselage: 'Transporting oversized cargo to its destination'. The first flight of Belulga XL number 6 should take place in the next few days and its entry into service is scheduled for the second half of the year.
The Airbus Beluga XL
The Beluga XL was launched in November 2014 to meet transport capacity requirements for the Airbus, focusing on the years after 2019. For this, Airbus used an existing platform, the A330-200F freighter, the previous one was derived from the A300-600, an airplane that has been discontinued for years.
The Beluga XL is six meters longer, one meter wider and has a six-ton capacity freight elevator compared to the current generation.
When complete, the fleet of six Beluga XL model aircraft will take over transporting complete sections of Airbus aircraft between the company's production sites across Europe and final assembly lines in , and Spain.
The forecast is that by 2023 the six aircraft will be fully operational, replacing the existing Airbus fleet of Beluga ST aircraft, in the special A300-600ST version.
Previously, Airbus planned to have five Beluga XL aircraft, but announced later that the plan would be for six aircraft of the type.
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