Airbus BelugaXL: Inside The Strangest-Looking Aircraft Ever Made

TheAirbus BelugaXL serves as the manufacturer’s outsized cargo lifter, a model designed to shuttle massive aerostructures, including large Airbus A350 fuselage sections, full aircraft tailplanes, and even a pair of A350 wings that can fit inside the aircraft. Originally derived from the Airbus A330-200, the aircraft offered exceptional volume and payload capabilities over the original BelugaST model, offering an internal cargo hold space exceeding 2,200 cubic meters (78,000 cubic feet). This included up to 51 tonnes of payload and a range of roughly 2,200 nautical miles. A fleet of six aircraft, all operated by Airbus Transport International, entered service, with the sixth and final airframe joining in June 2024. This gives Airbus a standardized, higher-throughput production line that helps de-risk schedules and reduce large-scale logistical bottlenecks.