Industry First BelugaXL emerges from assembly line

After the successful finalisation of the first structurally complete airframe of the new BelugaXL, Airbus now intends to test the aircraft on ground. It will undergo battery tests after installation of the engines, to ensure full system functionality. Before first flight, the aircraft will be painted with a new livery, showing a big smile across the “face” of the transporter.

Bertrand George, head of the BelugaXL programme said: “We will perform bench tests in Toulouse and Hamburg, Germany – testing our systems on flight simulators and in laboratories, as well as using hydraulic jacks to simulate flight loads on full-scale copies of specific joints between the new upper bubble and A330’s lower fuselage. [...] The data from these tests will be used to clear the aircraft for flight and, later on, to attain type certification.”

Altogether, 5 BelugaXL will be manufactured and will replace the current predecessor, the BelugaST. The airframe of the BelugaST is based on the A300-600 jetliner.

In need of more transport volume to support the final assembly lines in France, Germany and Spain, Airbus has launched the BelugaXL programme in 2014. The aircraft can carry six tonnes of payload more, is six metres longer and one metre wider than the BelugaST. Two wings of the A350 XWB will fit in the aircraft.

Airbus´ new transport aircraft is based on the A330-200 airliner, as George confirms: “We have the A330 as a foundation [...] but many changes have been successfully designed, introduced into the aircraft and tested. Transforming an existing product into a super transporter is not a simple task.”