Posted: Thu 14th Oct 2021

Updated: Thu 14th Oct

Fourth Beluga XL will touch down at Hawarden for first time today

News and Info from Deeside, Flintshire, North Wales
This article is old - Published: Thursday, Oct 14th, 2021

Update:

The latest Airbus BelugaXL to be built will land at Hawarden airfield this morning.

BelugaXL 4 is scheduled to land just before 11am, subject to confirmation.

Airbus is building six of the XL transporters which will eventually replace the now 20-year-old Beluga ST fleet.

All six BelugaXL freighters will be operating by the end of 2023.

At 63 metres long and 8 metres wide, the BelugaXL has the largest cargo bay cross-section of all existing cargo aircraft worldwide. The BelugaXL can carry two A350 XWB wings compared to the BelugaST, which can only carry one.

With a maximum payload of 51 tonnes, the BelugaXL has a range of 4,000km (2200nm).

The BelugaXL is based on an A330-200 Freighter, enabling the re-use of existing components and equipment and is powered by Rolls Royce Trent 700 engines.

The lowered cockpit, the cargo bay structure and the rear-end and tail were newly developed jointly with partners, giving the aircraft its distinctive look.

BelugaXL first made its debut in Deeside on Valentine’s Day 2019.

[Feature image: BelugaXL 4 making its debut at Airbus Broughton – credit @airbusInTheUK]

Check live fuel prices near you before you set off.

Spotted something? Got a story? Email news (@) deeside.com


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