News / Airbus unveils weighty ambitions for the Beluga as AiBT gains its AOC

Airbus’s outsized air cargo service, Airbus Beluga Transport (AiBT), should see more commercial use after being awarded its own Air Operator Certificate (AOC).  

The huge capacity offered by the Beluga could plug a gap in the market since the conflict between Ukraine and Russia saw Russian-owned AN-124s leaving the western market following sanctions. 

While three Belugas are available to customers, Airbus said that, due to high demand, the limited slots were quickly booked. 

It explained: “We are currently in a ramp-up phase and will be for the next couple of years, until we reach the ‘cruising’ phase. 

“This means we are still hiring and training new staff, which will help us perform more flights every year while increasing our responsiveness to customers’ requests.” 

Cargo sales director at Air Charter Service (ACS), James Cristofoli told The Loadstar: “We have yet to use the Beluga. They usually need a minimum of two months’ notice – often a lot more – to find availability and to work through their internal process to confirm a piece of cargo is loadable.” 

Since the Beluga is unique to Airbus, there is no immediate source of ready-qualified  pilots and consequently, pilots of other types commonly operated have to be brought in and trained to operate the Beluga, which “takes time”.  

Over the past two years, delivered payloads for AiBT have been mainly for Airbus Helicopters and Airbus Defence and Space. But with its own AOC, Airbus can expand its customer base, “depending on the current worldwide market demand”, it said. 

To help, AiBT has forged an agreement with Airbus on further investment to certify the Beluga to carry more types of helicopters, containers and aircraft engines. 

Manager of charter sales at Maximus Air, which operates an AN-124, Yazen Hyassat told The Loadstar: “The Beluga can be a solution for only a handful of outsize cargo customers, because it requires a sophisticated loading and off-loading system that must always fly with the aircraft, and it can only operate to airports that have ground equipment able handle it.”

Initially, AiBT flights will operate on the existing Airbus network. These flights commenced in November for routes to Saint Nazaire, Hamburg, Bremen, Sevilla and others. 

In terms of pricing, Airbus told The Loadstar every mission would be “customised according to the requirements of the customer and type of mission”. Factors include origin and destination and the complexity and characteristics of the payload, such as weight, dimensions and whether it contains dangerous goods. 

Head of flight operations Olivier Schneider said: “Our goal is to have a fleet of five Belugas operating all around the world… The thought of Airbus’s mythical Belugas flying over the world’s continents fills me with eager expectation. The market is there, we will do our best to achieve this.” 

Boeing has a similar outsize freighter, the Dreamlifter, but Mr Cristofoli said: “The Dreamlifter is not available for charter. It is dedicated 100% to Boeing.”