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The new Beluga XL, the smiling whale-shaped Airbus freighter, makes its first test flight Thursday in the Toulouse region of southern France.
The Beluga XL Airbus A330-743 will serve to transport the parts of the majority of Airbus aircraft from the various European group production sites (located in several countries, such as Germany, Spain or Spain). the United Kingdom) to the Toulouse factory where the badembly takes place.
The vessel will gradually replace the current ST Beluga from 2019 and "is part of our production system," said Bertrand George, director of the Beluga XL program, detailing the network of European factories involved in the breakage Airbus head but "they are only two hours from Toulouse."
"All Airbus, apart from the A380, which has its own mode of transportation, spend two hours in the Beluga" , said George
. Beluga XL co n the white whale, which bears the name, was accentuated with the eyes of the cetacean and a big smile painted on the front of the plane. Decoration decided by group employees during a vote.
The program, launched in 2014, provides for the construction of five XL specimens, the first of which will be operational in 2019.
To realize this mastodon of 18, 9 meters high, 63.1 meters long and of which the fuselage has a diameter of 8.8 meters, the engineers left "an A330 base, from which we modified the wings, engines and the lower fuselage," says George,
"C & # 39; is an excellent platform, a solid foundation, "he said, recalling that several hundred A330s fly around the world every day.
According to the program director, the new aircraft was needed for the production of the new A350 XWB, a state-of-the-art long-haul aircraft that requires composite materials
"Today, we are transporting the wings of the A350 XWB one by one, tomorrow we will transport them two by two, "said George. test flight lasted four hours and the Beluga XL flew over the Pyrenees and part of the Mediterranean before returning to Toulouse
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