Tag: Beluga

Airbus A350-1000 Deployed in Fight Against COVID-19

April 6, 2020 / WIL BALDWIN

Airbus continues to purchase and supply millions of face masks from China, the large majority of which will be donated to governments of the Airbus home countries, namely France, Germany, Spain and the UK.

An Airbus flight test crew has just completed its latest mission with an A350-1000 test aircraft. This is the third of such missions between Europe and China. The aircraft returned to France with a cargo of 4 million face masks on Sunday 5 April.

The A350-1000 left Toulouse, France, on Friday 3 April, reaching the Airbus site in Tianjin, China on 4 April and returning to Hamburg the same day.

Since mid-March, the previous two missions were performed by an A330-800 and an A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT). Airbus also deployed an A400M and its Beluga fleet to transport shipments of masks between its European sites, in France, Germany, the UK and Spain.

Airbus will continue to support the fight against the Coronavirus pandemic wherever possible.

“I would like to pay tribute to all the Airbus teams, globally, supporting the fight against COVID-19. They’re living our values in assisting those who are saving lives every day”, said Guillaume Faury, Airbus CEO. “

Airbus is focused on the health and safety of its employees and supporting its customers and the industry eco-system with business continuity. At the same time Airbus is contributing to many vital public and private services and working with partners who rely on aircraft, helicopters, space and security solutions to carry out life-saving missions in support of the global pandemic.

Airbus is deploying its employees, their expertise and know-how and leveraging technology in this fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, for example in designing and manufacturing ventilators and 3D printed visors which are critical resources for hospitals.

The Company is partnering with other organisations in unprecedented ways to achieve this goal as fast as possible.

Airbus BelugaXL Enters Service, Adding XL Capacity to the Fleet

January 19, 2020 / WIL BALDWIN

The BelugaXL has entered into service, providing Airbus with 30% extra transport capacity in order to support the on-going production ramp-up of commercial aircraft programmes.

The aircraft, which is an integral part of Airbus’ industrial system, made its first operational flight on 9 January. This is the first of six BelugaXL to begin work alongside the BelugaST predecessors, with the additional aircraft being introduced between 2020 and 2023.

Launched just over five years ago, in November 2014, the entry into service milestone marks yet another successful achievement for the internal aircraft programme that was awarded Type Certification by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) in November 2019, following an intensive flight test campaign that saw the BelugaXL complete more than 200 flight tests, clocking over 700 flight hours.

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 4,000 km. (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.

The BelugaXL is the latest addition to Airbus’ transportation portfolio. While air transport remains the primary method for transporting large aircraft components, Airbus also uses road, rail and sea transport to move parts between its production sites. Like the BelugaST, the aircraft will operate from 11 destinations in Europe, continuing to strengthen industrial capabilities and enabling Airbus to deliver on its commitments.

Boeing Crushes Airbus On Farnborough Freighter Orders

August 2, 2018 / WIL BALDWIN

Boeing scored a crushing victory at the 2018 Farnborough Air Show with orders for a total of 88 freighters. In comparison, Airbus had total freighter sales at the show of zero! This highlights the almost complete lack of competition for customers on the freighter front. The issue has caught the attention of Eric Schulz, the chief commercial officer at Airbus, and he has acknowleged that it’s time for his group to address the space.

Airbus does offer the A330-200F, which is a derivitive of its A330 jetliner family. Build at the factory as a freighter, it offers high efficiency operation andh less noise and emissions than other mid-sized cargo aircraft in service today. It also offers full operational commonality with the entire family of Airbus fly-by-wire airliners. Etihad Airways recently announced that it will be selling its five A330-200F cargo planes in an effort to focus on what it’s referring to as “core” routes out of Abu Dhabi.

Airbus also offers to convert A330’s from a passenger aircraft to freighter, called the A330P2F. The final offering in the linup is the A300-600ST. More commonly referred to as the Beluga, the plane has a modified cargo bay designed to transport oversized payloads. The 5 Beluga’s currently in service are all operated by Airbus to transport sections of Airbus aircrafft being assembled from one fatory to another.

Airbus had originally accepted orders for a freighter version of it’s flagship A380 aircraft. The plane boasted the largest payload capacity of any cargo aircraft in production, with the exception of two Antonov An-225 Mriya’s. Production of the A380 freighter was suspended in 2006 as the initial passenger aircraft delivery schedule was slipping due to manufacturing issues and the aircraft coming in over weight. Dubbed the A380F, the aircraft had attracted 27 orders after first being announced. Later, 20 of these orders were cancelled, with the remaining 7 being converted to the passenger version. The A380F was later completely removed from the Airbus website in 2015.

Image from www.airbus.com

Airbus A350-1000 Deployed in Fight Against COVID-19

Airbus BelugaXL Enters Service, Adding XL Capacity to the Fleet

Boeing Crushes Airbus On Farnborough Freighter Orders

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