BelugaST fleet goes belly-up as Airbus closes cargo airline

Airbus has shut down its new for-hire cargo airline focused on transporting oversize shipments using the odd-shaped Beluga superfreighter because of self-described operational challenges and what appears to be weak demand for the service.

The aerospace manufacturer last week terminated Airbus Beluga Transport (AiBT), the specialized airfreight business introduced last March for hauling outsize cargo, and suspended BelugaST flights, Airbus confirmed in a statement.

French business daily Les Echos first reported on Airbus’ decision to ground the third-party cargo service due to a lack of external customers, resulting in the loss of 75 jobs. Airbus said operational issues, not weak demand, were the biggest challenge. But the two problems went hand in hand, according to an air cargo professional familiar with the market for heavy-lift cargo.

“I believe the lengthy internal procedures to permit new cargo types on the aircraft and high charter costs prevented ABT from being a competitive player. I would also say chartering the Beluga externally wasn’t a high priority for Airbus,” said Brian Davis, commercial director for Neo Air Charter, an aircraft broker based in Ruesselsheim, Germany, that matches logistics companies and other shippers that need custom airlift with available cargo airlines.

“The limitations on cargo weight as well as the complex requirements for organizing and relocating special loading conveyors closed them off to a lot of business,” he added.

While the BelugaST can accommodate oversize loads, it’s not as versatile as the Antonov An-124 or Boeing 747 because of weight limitations and the need for special loading equipment. With a maximum payload of 44 tons, it isn’t able, for example, to transport tanks, generators or other heavy industrial equipment that can easily be rolled onto other freighters that have front or rear ramps.

Loading and unloading is a complex process that requires a dedicated, trained crew. The loader is basically scaffolding with a built-in rail system that allows the plane to be filled from a high point, above the cockpit. The platform has to be assembled, put in containers, and transported to each destination. It takes several hours to position the platform in front of the aircraft, connect it with the aircraft handling system and load/unload shipments, with the assistance of a crane.

When the loader is carried on the same flight as a load, it reduces the available capacity.

The BelugaST completed a total of six missions for external customers in 2024, the Airbus spokeswoman said by email.

In addition to meeting customers’ requirements for safe carriage of sensitive equipment, Airbus’ aircraft design office had to approve different types of payloads to make sure lashing systems and other systems would hold large shipments in place.

AiBT operated four BelugaST superfreighters. Aircraft tracking site Flightradar24 shows the planes were parked in Toulouse and Bordeaux, France, starting in the first week of January.

No decision has been made yet about their midterm and long-term future, an Airbus spokeswoman told FreightWaves. The ultralarge aircraft for now will be placed under the air operating certificate of Airbus Transport International, the in-house airline that operates larger BelugaXL jets that transport aircraft sections between different Airbus manufacturing sites in Europe. Whether they will be used again for internal purposes depends on future circumstances, she said.

*A space satellite is unloaded from a BelugaST freighter at Orlando Sanford International Airport in Florida using a specialized platform. (Photo: Airbus)*

The unique aircraft’s design is based on an A300-600 and borrows features from the beluga whale, a species with a distinctive white color and prominent forehead found in Arctic coastal waters. Airbus modified the frame by lowering the cockpit and adding a bulbous fuselage shell to accommodate large aircraft sections so they could be moved from factories to assembly plants in Europe by its in-house airline.

Airbus announced plans in January 2022 to commercialize its fleet of BelugaST freighters after replacing them with the BelugaXL, which is built on a larger A330-200 frame. The business offered dedicated transport services to shippers with cargo that is too tall or wide to fit in a traditional freighter aircraft.

With the largest cross section of any transport aircraft in the world – 50% higher and 10% wider than alternatives such as the Antonov An-124 or Boeing 747-8 – the Beluga was well suited for nonstandard shipments such as satellites and helicopters. But the limitations on heavy-lift cargo and complexity to operate reduced its overall appeal. The aircraft also is unable to make long journeys without multiple trips because it was designed for regional flying in Europe.

Capacity for project cargo?

Over time it will become extremely difficult to transport oversize and heavy cargo, Neo Air Charter’s Davis explained. The biggest issue is the lack of replacements for the ultralarge An-124.

In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, only a handful of An-124 ultralarge freighters are available to charter in the European and North American regions. Ukrainian freighter operator Antonov Airlines, which relocated to Leipzig/Halle airport in Germany when the war started, has only two An-124s in commercial service. Two other An-124s are committed to flying military cargo for Ukraine, and the three remaining aircraft have been inactive for months or years, according to industry sources and Flightradar24 data. Meanwhile, Russian cargo airline Volga-Dnepr, which operates An-124s and Ilyushin IL-76s, is banned from U.S. and European airspace.

The only other An-124 operator is Abu Dhabi-based Maximus Airlines, which has a single aircraft.

The An-124s are getting very old, and finding replacement parts is increasingly difficult, said Davis.

Atlas Air and Cargolux operate the largest fleets of Boeing 747 freighters.

Airlines are gradually phasing out Boeing 747-400s because of their age and high fuel consumption. Boeing stopped making the 747-8 last year. The largest production freighter currently available from Boeing is the twin-engine 777, but it lacks the nose-loading capability of many 747s.

Azerbaijan-based Silkway Airlines also operates two IL-76s that can operate in the U.S. and Europe.

Click here for more FreightWaves stories by Eric Kulisch.