Airbus Beluga landed at Mumbai's Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) on Tuesday, Nov 22 and instantly grabbed attention of the airport staff and passengers due to its sheer size and nose shaped like a Beluga whale.
Airbus A300-600ST is one of the largest cargo planes in the world by by the European company Airbus.
Here are 5 things you need to know about Airbus Beluga
The aircraft is 56.15 meters in length and 17.25 meters in height and its wing span is 44.24 meters.
It offers customers with large cargo transport solutions for a variety of sectors, including space, energy, military, aeronautics, maritime and humanitarian sectors.
Belugas are capable of handling outsized cargo of up to 7.1m in width and 6.7m in height and possess “the world's largest interior cross-section of any transport aircraft".
Beluga ST has a semi-automated main deck cargo loading system which ensures easy and efficient handling of payloads.
These transport planes have been operating for the company's own industrial airlift needs since the mid-1990s, and are progressively being replaced by a fleet of six new-generation BelugaXL versions.
