This Sunday was a historic moment for the aeronautical community in Brazil and Latin America, when for the first time the Airbus A300-600ST (Beluga) performed its first cargo operation to the region transporting three helicopters.
The Atlantic crossing has been planned for a couple of months to deliver two ACH 160s with reserved registration PS-AXM and BXM for Helibras and a third ACH 160 for PS-PCT for the holding company Romanof Ltda, according to our media partner, Aeroin.
Flight BGA-4004 used the second Beluga built, with registration F-GSTB, departing from Marseille, France, with the valuable cargo valued at USD 16 million bound for Campinas-Viracopos (VCP), Brazil, after stops in Dakar (DSS), Senegal, and Fortaleza (FOR).
In Fortaleza, it was received by a crowd of fans and onlookers of one of the most exotic aircraft models.
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The Beluga and the new Cargo division
The Beluga is a model developed from the Airbus A300-600, modified with the installation of a much larger fuselage structure. Only five of them were produced during the 1990s.
The adaptation was intended to carry superbulky cargo and replace the Boeing 377-derived Super Guppy, but restricted specifically to parts for Airbus’ own aircraft, such as A320 fuselages or wings for the giant A380, among its production units spread across Europe.
Airbus stresses that the Beluga can carry any cargo up to 7 meters wide and 6.7 meters high, without the need for transport adaptations, reaching a maximum payload of up to 47 tons.
Recently, Airbus launched its cargo division using A300-600STs, with its own Air Operator Certificate (AOC) and personnel. Airbus Beluga Transport debuted at the end of 2021 with the delivery of a helicopter from the Airbus manufacturing site in Marignane (France) to Kobe (Japan).
The A300s were replaced by the BelugaXL, using the A330-200 platform, focused on supplying Airbus’ European plants operating under Air Transport International (ATI). The manufacturer stated that it will soon also be used in its cargo division.
