Airbus BelugaXL

what is it?

The Airbus A330-743L BelugaXL is a large transport aircraft based on the Airbus A330-200 built by Airbus. The aircraft made its first flight on 19 July 2018, and received its type certification on 13 November 2019. The BelugaXL entered service with Airbus Transport on 9 January 2020.

🔎How to recognise it: 2 jet engines · mid wing · retractable tricycle gear · 60.3 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 852 km/htop speed
• range 4,260 kmwithout refuelling
• seats 2passengers
• size 227 tmax take-off weight
• built 6made 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 8 years ago, in 2018.
• 🏎️Top speed is 6.6× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 60.3 m: about 13 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🐘Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 38 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 🌍Range of 4,260 km: 24× 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

2018-07-19

introduced

2020

status

still flying

number built

6

role

outsize freight aircraft

origin

🇫🇷 France

makers

Airbus Commercial Aircraft, Aernnova Aerospace, Aciturri Aeronáutica, P3 Voith Aerospace, STELIA Aerospace, Safran Electrical & Power

engines

2× Rolls-Royce Trent 700

passengers

2

length

63.1 m

wingspan

60.3 m

height

18.9 m

max take-off weight

227 t

top speed

852 km/h

range

4,260 km

ceiling

10,668 m

wings

mid wing

landing gear

retractable tricycle gear

ICAO code

A337

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