Beluga XL to makes its maiden flight today – live video from Toulouse.

Update: Read more about BelugaXL’s first flight here: Deeside.com/belugaXL

Beluga XL, the new supersize transporter from Airbus is scheduled to perform its maiden flight this morning, Thursday, July 19.

Freshly painted with a huge smiling face, the first BelugaXL will take to the sky from Toulouse-Blagnac airport at 9.30am.

Today’s maiden flight (weather permitting of course) will kick off a 10-month, 600-hour flight test certification campaign leading to planned service entry in 2019.

Airbus will broadcast the first flight via a live video feed from Toulouse which begins at 9am.

Beluga XL – Curated tweets by DeesideDotCom

The planes stunning livery includes a whale-style nose cone, sparkling blue eyes and a smiling mouth and was chosen by Airbus employees.

“The six designs we proposed for consideration by employees respected our brand identity while running from the conventional to the unconventional, even adding a touch of fun,” explained Tim Orr, Airbus’ Head of Branding.

Starting in mid-2019, the BelugaXL will gradually replace the existing five-member Beluga ST fleet – which is used for carrying complete sections of Airbus aircraft from different production sites around Europe including wings from Broughton to the final assembly lines in Toulouse, France and Hamburg, Germany.

The Beluga XL is designed to carry six tonnes more payload than the current Beluga Transporters we see land at Broughton several times a day.

Beluga XL is also 20ft longer and is powered by two Rolls-Royce Trent 700-powered

Preparation work has begun at Broughton which is needed to allow the Beluga XL to operate in and out of Hawarden Airport.

Work includes the resurfacing of the runway, new turn pads to both ends of the existing runway and upgrades to the Beluga loading bay.

With the Rolls Royce engines producing around 30% more thrust than the current engines, three blast fences will be be erected, one to each end of the runway and one adjacent to the existing Beluga apron.

The Chester Road side of the runway will see a 200ft long 14ft blast fence constructed.

Read more here 

[📸 Airbus]