News / Airbus heavylift airline demise raises questions over solidity of business plan

© Craig Russell

The sudden demise of Airbus’s relatively short-lived cargo airline specialising in outsize shipments, Airbus Beluga Transport (AiBT), has raised questions about the solidity of its business plan.

Airbus says AIBT was created, in January 2022, “to explore the oversize transportation market by operating the BelugaST aircraft via its own Air Operator Certificate (AOC)”.

The pre-launch hype focused on the new airline plugging the huge capacity gap in the heavylift and large volume market as a result of the conflict in Ukraine, which ...