The Beluga, which took its maiden flight on September 13, 1994, has been transporting Airbus component parts between the company's European manufacturing sites for the last 20 years.
Happy birthday, Beluga —
The Beluga, which took its maiden flight on September 13, 1994, has been transporting Airbus component parts between the company's European manufacturing sites for the last 20 years.
Airbus
Designing the Beluga wasn't easy. The top section of an Airbus A300-600 was cut off. A wider fuselage section was added, giving the plane its characteristic hump. The cockpit was lowered, allowing cargo to be loaded through the front of the aircraft.
Frankenstein of cargo planes —
Designing the Beluga wasn't easy. The top section of an Airbus A300-600 was cut off. A wider fuselage section was added, giving the plane its characteristic hump. The cockpit was lowered, allowing cargo to be loaded through the front of the aircraft.
Miquel Ros/CNN
With a diameter of 7.1 meters, the Beluga has an incredibly large cargo hold. Though its maximum payload of 47 tons is surpassed by only a handful of cargo aircraft, the hold makes it good for oversized cargo, such as this A350 XWB tailplane.
Built for volume, not weight. —
With a diameter of 7.1 meters, the Beluga has an incredibly large cargo hold. Though its maximum payload of 47 tons is surpassed by only a handful of cargo aircraft, the hold makes it good for oversized cargo, such as this A350 XWB tailplane.
Airbus
Airbus operates five Beluga cargo planes, which together perform more than 60 flights each week.
Fleet of five —
Airbus operates five Beluga cargo planes, which together perform more than 60 flights each week.
Airbus
The Beluga has brought many a plane spotter to Toulouse, France. Visitors can often be found sitting on the grass near Toulouse Blagnac Airport waiting for one of the five big beauties to take off or land.
Plane spotter's dream —
The Beluga has brought many a plane spotter to Toulouse, France. Visitors can often be found sitting on the grass near Toulouse Blagnac Airport waiting for one of the five big beauties to take off or land.
Miquel Ros/CNN
The Beluga has special stabilizer fins, found near the plane's tail.
Special wings —
The Beluga has special stabilizer fins, found near the plane's tail.
The Beluga isn't serially produced, making each an "artisan" product. The A300-600ST Super Transporter can carry a payload of 47 metric tons (103,616 pounds) over a range of 1,500 nautical miles.
The Beluga takes off —
The Beluga isn't serially produced, making each an "artisan" product. The A300-600ST Super Transporter can carry a payload of 47 metric tons (103,616 pounds) over a range of 1,500 nautical miles.
Airbus
The A300-600ST Super Transporter is operated by a crew of three: two pilots and a loadmaster.
Cockpit —
The A300-600ST Super Transporter is operated by a crew of three: two pilots and a loadmaster.
Miquel Ros/CNN
It's easy to see how the Beluga got its nickname.
Flying white whale —
It's easy to see how the Beluga got its nickname.
Miquel Ros/CNN
Seriously, the resemblance is uncanny.
The real thing —
Seriously, the resemblance is uncanny.
Koichi Kamoshida/Getty Images
Only the cockpit is pressurized, not the cargo hold. A heating module provides a suitable environment for spacecraft and other cargo that requires temperature-controlled conditions.
Inside the Beluga —
Only the cockpit is pressurized, not the cargo hold. A heating module provides a suitable environment for spacecraft and other cargo that requires temperature-controlled conditions.
Miquel Ros/CNN
The Beluga's jet speed and efficiency allows "for short transport times to meet strict production schedules," says Airbus. "A semi-automated main deck cargo loading system ensures easy and efficient handling of aircraft components."
A300-600ST Super Transporter —
The Beluga's jet speed and efficiency allows "for short transport times to meet strict production schedules," says Airbus. "A semi-automated main deck cargo loading system ensures easy and efficient handling of aircraft components."
Courtesy Airbus
Signage at Airbus headquarters in Toulouse shows how the Beluga was built.
Sum of many parts —
Signage at Airbus headquarters in Toulouse shows how the Beluga was built.
Miquel Ros/CNN
A Beluga can carry the wings of an A340 airliner or fuselage for Airbus' wide-body <a >A350</a>. It's not large enough to transport all parts for the A380 super jumbo. Those travel by boat, barge and road.
Aerial view —
A Beluga can carry the wings of an A340 airliner or fuselage for Airbus' wide-body A350. It's not large enough to transport all parts for the A380 super jumbo. Those travel by boat, barge and road.
Courtesy Airbus
Belugas can be chartered by third parties. In 2006, a container holding a five-meter-high granite statue of a Ptolemaic Pharaoh was flown from Berlin to Paris.
Transporting ancient art —
Belugas can be chartered by third parties. In 2006, a container holding a five-meter-high granite statue of a Ptolemaic Pharaoh was flown from Berlin to Paris.
JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP/Getty Images
Airbus is looking at a potential replacement for the aging A300-600ST Super Transporter. Though no final decisions have been announced, the "Beluga XL" is expected to have a longer range and ability to carry heavier payloads.
Beluga's future —
Airbus is looking at a potential replacement for the aging A300-600ST Super Transporter. Though no final decisions have been announced, the "Beluga XL" is expected to have a longer range and ability to carry heavier payloads.
Courtey Airbus
Airbus' Beluga transporter aircraft took part in a formation flight with the French Air Force's "Patrouille de France" aerobatic demonstration team in May 2014.
Formation flight —
Airbus' Beluga transporter aircraft took part in a formation flight with the French Air Force's "Patrouille de France" aerobatic demonstration team in May 2014.
Airbus
Airbus' Beluga: The world's strangest-looking airplane turns 20

Story highlights

Airbus' fleet of five Beluga super transporters has been in service for over 20 years

New model of Beluga planned to enter service in 2020

New plane will be even larger and able to transport two A350 wings on same flight

CNN  — 

It’s the white whale of the skies and one of aviation’s rarest and most loved planes currently in service.

The Airbus A300-600ST, popularly known as the “Beluga” because of its resemblance to the white Arctic whale, is the European plane manufacturer’s super-sized transporter jet.

Five of these enormous planes make more than 60 flights each week, carrying parts for all of Airbus’ planes from manufacturing sites – wings in the UK, tails in Spain, for example – to the final assembly facilities in either Toulouse, Hamburg or Tianjin.

The planes have been in service since 1994, but are in need of reinforcements.

Since the plane’s inaugural flight, Airbus’s production rates have increased five fold, so a new fleet is planned to keep up with demand, especially with the new A350XWB plane now entering service.

“The need for the new Beluga comes with the increase in production rates and to get extra capacity on top of this fleet of five aircrafts,” says Stephane Gosselin, head of Airbus Transport International.

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Inside one of the world's weirdest-looking planes
03:49 - Source: CNN

“So initially there will be a mixed fleet use of both new Beluga and old Beluga. And then the second need was as well to anticipate replacement of an aging fleet.”

A crew of three operates the Beluga: two pilots and a loadmaster. Because of its size the plane reacts differently to other large jets in turbulence; moving sideways more than up and down.

Read more: The white whale turns 20

The five Belugas currently in operation are, actually, Airbus A300-600 jets that have been modified to carry large cargo.

The top section of the aircraft was cut and an additional, wider fuselage section – resembling a bubble – was added to the airframe, giving it its characteristic hump.

The cockpit was lowered, making it possible for the cargo hold to be loaded and unloaded through the front of the aircraft.

Airbus operates a fleet of five Beluga cargo airlifters, which together perform more than 60 flights each week to transport components for the company's jetliners between 11 sites in Europe.
Airbus operates a fleet of five Beluga cargo airlifters, which together perform more than 60 flights each week to transport components for the company's jetliners between 11 sites in Europe.
Airbus

The result is an incredibly spacious cargo hold of 1,400 cubic meters. That’s the equivalent to 671 people, 36 cars or seven elephants.

“The perception you have (when the cargo door opens) is of a huge volume like a cathedral,” says Gosselin.

Although the Beluga’s maximum payload of 47 tons is surpassed by a handful of other cargo aircraft, its voluminous hold makes it suitable for transporting oversized, but not particularly heavy, cargo, like aircraft parts.

Read more: Superjumbo on streets of tiny village

The Beluga can carry the wings of an A340 airliner or a fuselage section for Airbus’ newest wide-body aircraft, the A350.

But it’s not large enough to transport many A380 super jumbo parts. Those need to travel by boat, barge and road.

With a diameter of 7.1 meters, the Beluga has an incredibly large cargo hold. Though its maximum payload of 47 tons is surpassed by only a handful of cargo aircraft, the hold makes it good for oversized but not particularly heavy cargo.
With a diameter of 7.1 meters, the Beluga has an incredibly large cargo hold. Though its maximum payload of 47 tons is surpassed by only a handful of cargo aircraft, the hold makes it good for oversized but not particularly heavy cargo.
Airbus

With the A300 now out of service, the new Belugas will be based on the Airbus A330 and be bigger than the existing fleet. While the current planes can only carry one wing for the new A350 at a time, the new jet will be able to take on board both on the same flight.

And for plane-spotters who love the unique shape of the existing Beluga, that will remain much the same.

“It will be the same look,” says Gosselin, “because we will operate both fleets in parallel for a number of years and it will also be compatible with existing loading means.”

The first of the new fleet will enter service in 2020.

Watch: First flight of Qatar Airways’ A350XWB

Aviation writer Miquel Ros contributed to this report.