European planemaker, Airbus, continues to grow and their planes seem to be growing with them.
Airbus produces planes in the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, and China, yet they are based out of Toulouse, France.
So how does Airbus transport their jumbo jet parts all over the world in order to meet demand?
Simple… The company built a plane bigger than all their other planes in order to transport, wings, fuselages, and other parts from one factory to another.
The Beluga is massive, bigger than any standard cargo jet, and is known for having one of the biggest cargo holds in the world.
Exactly how big is the Beluga?
The aircraft measures an incredible 56.15 m (184 ft.) in length, 17.24 m (56 ft.) in height, and has a wingspan of 44.84m (147 ft.).
The super cargo deck of the Beluga measures 37.7m in length, 7.1m in width and 37.7m in height with an overall square metreage of 1,400.
The gigantic aircraft has a volumetric payload weight of 47 tonnes and weighs 86 tonnes… When it’s empty!
Throw in the fact that the Beluga is capable of carrying whole helicopters through the skies and you can see where this “whale” of a plane gets its name.
