On a dull and windy Saturday morning in April, the first Airbus Beluga XL outsized freighter arrived in Shannon from its home base in Toulouse. The Beluga XL, was in Shannon to carry out Rejected Take Offs (RTOs) in strong crosswind conditions as part of its certification program.

Weather conditions in Shannon on the day were tricky to say the least, it was cold, but thankfully the rain stayed away until the just after the aircraft departed. The wind was almost a direct crosswind, with speeds between 30 and 40 knots. The aircraft carried out multiple RTOs, following which it returned to Toulouse.

The BelugaXL
This aircraft, BelugaXL number one, performed its maiden flight in July 2018, and is working towards type certification. Even though it is the first aircraft to be built, it will be the second aircraft to enter service after certification has been completed as all test instrumentation needs to be removed and the aircraft reconfigured for operational use. The first BelugaXL is planned to enter service during the second half of 2019.

To support the A350 XWB production ramp-up and other production rate increases, Airbus needed a more capable outsized freighter, and they decided to build a fleet of six aircraft based on their A330 family of aircraft. The new BelugaXL will offer an extra 30% of transport capability over the A300 based Beluga, and will have a maximum payload of 51 tons.

Airbus will initially operate the BelugaXL in parallel with the existing fleet of five Beluga freighters, with the original Beluga aircraft then being progressively retired from 2021 until 2025.