The mighty Airbus Super Transporter arrives at the Bahrain International Airport

TDT | Manama                                             

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

The mighty Airbus Super Transporter, known worldwide as Beluga, landed at Bahrain International Airport yesterday on an undisclosed mission.

One of the largest of its kind designed to carry outsize cargo such as wings, the aircraft -- named fondly after the Beluga whale on the North Pole -- is reportedly a version of the standard A330-608ST widebody airliner.

The length of Beluga No.2 is equivalent to two blue whales. The maximum net payload is 51 tonnes, and the take-off weight is 155 tons. It has an overall length of 56.16 meters and a height of 17.25 metres.

The BelugaSTs have been operating for Airbus’ own industrial airlift needs since the mid-1990s, and are progressively being replaced by a fleet of six new-generation BelugaXL versions. Airbus started operating the first BelugaXL, an improved version of STs, on 9 January 2020.

Beluga X L, based on the A330 jetliner, has an enlarged fuselage six metres longer and one metre wider than the Beluga ST – an aircraft derived from A300-600. Airbus would have six freighters in this class by the end of 2023. They are available for freight companies and other potential customers as a unique solution to meet outsized freight transportation needs.

Months ago, Beluga had competition from Ukraine. Ukraine’s Antonov AN-225 or ‘Mriya’ was then the world’s largest, which created the record of carrying the heaviest commercial payload of 253,820 kg. Reports, however, said that Russian troops destroyed the aircraft during an attack on an airport near Kyiv.

According to Ukrainian officials, the plane suffered extensive damage after Russian troops entered a Ukrainian air base in Hostomel, where the aircraft was parked. The Antonov An-225 Mriya (‘dream’ or ‘inspiration) was a strategic airlift cargo aircraft designed in the 1980s by the Antonov Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. It was originally developed as an enlargement of the Antonov An-124 to transport Buran-class orbiters, and only one example was ever completed.