First test in flight for the brand new airplane Cargo Airbus A330-743L; it is the Beluga XL, a real smiling whale of the skies, both for features and dimensions. The flight departed from Blagnac, in the south of France, and landed at Toulouse-Blagnac airport after 4 hours and 11 minutes. It was just the first of many take-offs that will affect this racing car from the skies. According to what has been learned, in fact, the Beluga XL it will undergo approximately 600 hours of in-flight tests for a total of 10 months, before officially entering service and replacing the current one Beluga ST.
Airbus Beluga XL, operational since 2019.
The plane was designed for the transport components of other aircraft, so that they can be assembled anywhere in the world. The idea of making it look like a giant smiling whale comes from the outcome of a survey in which 20,000 employees of Airbus they received six alternatives and expressed their preference. With the 40% of the votes it was the clear winner. Here's the design for a whale-style nose cone, sparkling blue eyes, and a smiling mouth.
The test of the first of the five aircraft created was followed by hundreds of people including employees, Airbus top management and professionals in general. The presentation was communicated on the Airbus Twitter page with a simple message: “Whale Hello!”. Beluga XL is the derivative of the Jetliner A330. Its official operation is scheduled for mid-2019, again with the task of "traveling" complete sections of Airbus aircraft from European production sites to final assembly lines in France and Germany.
