Business is booming at Airbus: The European planemaker just closed a huge deal to sell $24 billion worth of A320 jets to Indonesia’s Lion Air, and it’s busy building the A350 XWB, the plane it created to compete with Boeing‘s 787 Dreamliner.
Airbus is based in Toulouse, France, but produces planes in the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, and China.
To transport the wings and fuselages of half-built planes from one factory to another, it needed a plane bigger than any standard cargo jet.
So it built the Beluga.
Developed in the 1990s and based on the A300 (the wings, engines, landing gear, and lower portion of the fuselage are the same), the Beluga has one of the biggest cargo holds in the world.
It’s the best way to get the body of a jumbo jet, a fleet of helicopters, or even a priceless painting across the planet.
It’s also one of the strangest looking planes in the skies.. Airbus Created This Bizarre Plane To Fly Jumbo Jet Parts Around The World
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/meet-the-bizarre-but-useful-airbus-beluga-2013-3?op=1#ixzz2OB7bm82f
With its main compartment open, the Beluga looks like a whale swallowing its prey…thus the name .It is built to fit entire aircraft fuselages..On a typical flight, Beluga carries more than 100,000 pounds of cargo. It is 56 Feet tall !..And the diameter of the fuselage is 24 Feet…
The Beluga is available for charter. In 1999, it was used to fly Eugene Delacroix’s huge painting, ‘Liberty Leading the People,’ from Paris to Tokyo for an exhibition.
Seeing it on the ground, it’s hard to believe the huge plane can get airborne. But it’s actually made with a maximum takeoff weight of 341,713 pounds.
At the 2012 ILA Berlin Airshow in September, one was used to attract potential employees. It’s official name is the A300-600ST Super Transporter.
From the ground, it seems almost like a normal jumbo jet — but not quite. Its wingspan measures more than 147 feet.
source::::businessinsider.com
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