Jet Airways CEO Sanjiv Kapoor shared the picture of an Airbus aircraft on his Twitter handle and wrote, “What is amazing is it has two engines.” He retweeted a tweet by a user named Robyn.
Robyn wrote, “Of course the Royal International Air Tattoo highlights are numerous – and another of yesterday’s was undoubtedly the appearance of the Airbus Beluga XL- the first time I and many others had laid eyes on this beast of an aircraft.”
Europe-based aerospace company Airbus launched the aircraft BelugaXL in late 2014 as a new super transporter supporting the ramp-up in the production of A350 and other production rate increases, Airbus’ website.
The BelugaXL performed its first flight in 2018 and received type certification in November 2019 from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) airworthiness authority. After the EASA approval in November 2019, BelugaXL’s first service entry happened in January 2020.
BelugaXL’s dimensions are 63.1 m in length, 18.9 m in height, 60.3 m wing span and 8.8 m wide fuselage. The aircraft has a maximum range of 4,000 km and can carry maximum weight of 227 tonnes in take-off and 187 tonnes in landing.
The aircraft is often likened to the Beluga whale, particularly because of the smiling whale aesthetic on its exterior. The Beluga whale is an endangered species that weighs 3,150 pounds, has a length of upto 16 feet and a lifespan of 90 years approximately. The whale is found in Alaska and its existence is threatened by climate change.
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