February 19, 2025
A large number of attentive observers caught sight of this in January 2025: The flying white whale, the Airbus "Beluga XL" transporter was a guest at Erding Moor several times. This report takes a look behind the scenes of a cargo operation that is not exactly routine for MUC.
The BelugaXL owes its name to its whale-like appearance and its impressive wingspan of almost 61 metres and a height of around 20 metres. The Airbus A330-200F serves as a base model for the gigantic cargo aircraft. Airbus primarily uses the BelugaXL to transport aircraft components between the various Airbus locations. In Bavaria, the cargo flights will take off from Ingolstadt-Manching Airport. Currently, the runway at Manching is being renovated, which is why Munich Airport is now being used as an alternative airport.
The Beluga is currently transporting A350 fuselage parts manufactured in Augsburg – known as "side shells" – which are delivered to Munich Airport at night by heavy transport and loaded into the transport aircraft via a custom-made special scaffold. The destination is the Airbus plant in Hamburg-Finkenwerder.
