Airbus Plans To Lease Popular Beluga XL 'Whale Plane'

Airbus Beluga XL. (Wikimedia Commons/JoachimKohler-HB)

JAKARTA - Airbus plans to lease its whale-shaped Beluga transport plane, whose main task until now has been to transport aircraft parts between its European factories, to help other industries transport much-needed large engines by air.

Airbus said the move to lease spare capacity on its existing Beluga ST and new Beluga XL carrier, would lead to the formation of a commercial cargo airline subsidiary starting in 2023.

Weeks after ending production of the world's largest passenger jet, the A380, Airbus is planning a new role for what could become the West's largest commercial freighter by volume, the Beluga.

This is a rare example of the task of "insourcing" aerospace from another industry, after years of off-the-job farming, and if successful could pave the way for other services.

"The units will be 100 percent commercially operational," Airbus said.

"It will earn revenue from its sale, and will cover all of its investment and operating costs," a spokesman said.

Airbus Beluga XL. (Wikimedia Commons/Lesbardd)

Analysts say demand for bulky cargo that can be transported without unloading has been increasing, in part due to weakening supply chains. Logistics managers turn to large planes when there is no time to use sea routes.

To date, Airbus has had difficulty meeting this demand as the aerospace industry is running at peak capacity.

But analysts said lower output from large passenger jets and the industry-wide slump during the pandemic meant the older Beluga had more time left than previously thought.

"The Beluga ST is only 50 percent of its life. They have been designed for 30,000 flight cycles and currently have an average of 15,000," said Philippe Sabo, head of Airbus Transport International. The flight cycle is one takeoff and landing.

To note, Airbus cut production on average by 40 percent when the pandemic hit, planning to recover and slightly increase production of single-aisle jets by the summer of 2023. However, wide-body output is expected to remain around half the level expected when the Beluga XL launched in 2017. 2014.