Airbus Beluga

what is it?

The Airbus A300-600ST (Super Transporter) or Beluga is a specialised wide-body airliner used to transport aircraft parts and outsize cargoes. It received the official name of Super Transporter early on, but its nickname, after the beluga whale, which it resembles, gained popularity and has since been officially adopted. Due to Airbus's manufacturing facilities being dispersed, the company had a long term need to transport sizeable components, such as wings and fuselage sections, to their final assembly lines.

🔎How to recognise it: 2 jet engines · mid wing · retractable tricycle gear · 44.8 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 865 km/htop speed
• range 2,779 kmwithout refuelling
• seats 3passengers
• size 155 tmax take-off weight
• built 5made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 32 years ago, in 1994.
• 🏎️Top speed is 6.7× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 44.8 m: about 10 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🐘Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 26 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 🌍Range of 2,779 km: 15× Amsterdam to Brussels.
• 🏔️Can fly 1.2× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

jet: Gas turbine pushing air out the back (turbofan or turbojet): fast and high-flying.

spec sheet

first flight

1994-09-13

introduced

1995

status

still flying

number built

5

role

oversized freight aircraft

origin

🇫🇷 France

makers

Airbus Commercial Aircraft, Dornier, EADS EFW, Airbus Defence and Space S.A., EADS Sogerma, Latécoère, Hamble Aerostructures

engines

2× General Electric CF6-80C2A8 / General Electric CF6-80C2

crew

2

passengers

3

length

56.2 m

wingspan

44.8 m

height

17.2 m

max take-off weight

155 t

top speed

865 km/h

range

2,779 km

ceiling

10,668 m

wings

mid wing

landing gear

retractable tricycle gear

ICAO code

A3ST

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.