By Jennifer Cheng

Regular traveller has the chance to fly with different air carrier's passenger aircraft. Even if you have seen different painted planes, you may still smile because of the shape of this plane - this is one of the most bizarre Airbuses, known for its beluga-like appearance, known as the "Great Beluga". The Airbus A330-743L was nicknamed "Beluga XL" (Super Beluga) for its round white appearance.

You look at this plane, it's too cute, it's a big white whale, a big white whale flying in the air! In order to match the image of "Moby Dick", Airbus also playfully painted it with the eyes and mouth of a whale. It is actually a super transport aircraft developed by Airbus in Europe. It is not only cute, but also very capable of carrying cargo. The unique shape of the Beluga comes from the nose. Its nose is divided into two parts. The upper part can be opened upwards to hold a large amount of cargo, while the lower part is the cockpit of the aircraft. The lower part sinks and protrudes. Exactly formed the shape of a whale head. Beluga does not transport general cargo, it transports planes! Airbus Group is jointly established by European countries. Although the headquarters is in Toulouse, France, it has factories in Spain, the United Kingdom, and Germany. The production of an aircraft is done in different countries and then assembled together, but it is very difficult to transport these large aircraft parts, and there must be an aircraft with an extra-large cargo hold to accommodate large parts such as the wings and fuselage of passenger aircraft. . So Airbus decided to develop an aircraft for its own transport aircraft.

Airbus Group manufactured the A300-600ST in 1994. Because the A300-600ST has a huge "forehead", like a dolphin, and the main color of the aircraft is white, it is called BelugaST. This is the first-generation Beluga, with a total of 5. After 20 years of flying, Airbus has designed the "2nd Generation Beluga", officially numbered A330-700L, its fuselage is 6 meters longer and 1 meter wider than the previous generation Beluga. The additional transport capacity is increased by 30%, capable of carrying the wings of two Airbus A350s and the giant tail of the A380, and it can even accommodate part of the body of the A330.

Besides, the shape of airplane is impressive, and it has always shouldered the major mission of European air cargo also. At the beginning of this year, foreign media reported that the Airbus Beluga ST/XL fleet launched a new air cargo service to meet the transportation needs of cargo companies and other potential customers for oversized cargo. The new business, called Airbus Beluga Transport, will provide oversized cargo transport solutions to commercial contract customers in a variety of sectors including aerospace, energy, military, aviation, maritime and humanitarian. This new business from Airbus is undoubtedly exciting news for aviation enthusiasts around the world.

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