Airbus has revealed its new and final Beluga XL which will be coming soon to Broughton.

The Beluga XL first landed at Broughton in October 2021, with a fleet of six aircraft planned to be operational by the end of 2023.

They will replace the remainder of the current BelugaST fleet – which cannot cope with production growth.

Earlier this week, Airbus tweeted saying: “Something BIG has just sneaked out of our paint shop – check out our latest (and last) #BelugaXL as she gets ready to support outsized cargo operations!”
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Airbus in the UK’s account responded saying: “Coming soon to Broughton…”

Coming soon to Broughton… https://t.co/7AJWsnrnEb
— Airbus In The UK (@AirbusintheUK) June 29, 2023

In addition to the significant use of existing components and equipment including Rolls Royce’s Trent 772B engines, the Airbus A330-based BelugaXL fleet incorporates newly-developed elements –including its lowered cockpit, a highly-enlarged cargo bay structure, and modified rear and tail section.

Sized at seven metres longer and one metre wider than its BelugaST predecessor, the BelugaXL provides 30% extra transport capacity. As an example, a BelugaXL can accommodate two A350 jetliner wings, compared to one in the BelugaST.

With a maximum payload of 51 tonnes, the BelugaXL has a range of 4,000 km (2,200 nm).

Thanks to new efficiency in systems, the turn-around time (TAT) for the BelugaXL is approximately 1 hour, reduced by almost half when compared to a BelugaST.