Airbus’ outsized air cargo service, Airbus Beluga Transport (AiBT), has secured its air operator certificate (AOC).
Initially launched two years ago, operated by Airbus Transport International (ATI), AiBT submitted its application at the end of June 2023, building on the documentation and processes of ATI. After passing the audit by authorities in September 2023, the final approval of the continuous airworthiness and maintenance organisation (CAMO) came at the beginning of November.
Benoît Lemonnier, managing director of AiBT, explained that becoming an airline not only entails documentation and compliance to regulation: “We staffed the right people in the right place. First our management was staffed at the beginning of the year until mid-2023. Then we recruited the necessary expert resources in the various fields of flight operations, dispatch crew planning, and also some new pilots. To date we have recruited almost 60 employees into the company – either through external recruitment or via internal job mobility within Airbus, mainly from ATI.”
The new main headquarters of AiBT are located close to Blagnac airport, and its aircraft operational base is stationed at Francazal airport near to Toulouse. Three of the BelugaSTs have been officially transferred from ATI’s fleet to AiBT, and the airline is expecting to welcome a fourth aircraft this year.
Initially, AiBT is starting with flights on the existing Airbus network. “It’s quite important that we don’t start with long complex worldwide flights, but rather that our flying crews and ground teams gain experience with short flights contracted by ATI,” said Lemonnier. These flights commenced in November for routes to Saint Nazaire, Hamburg, Bremen, and Seville.
The airline is also hoping to expand the scope of certified payloads that will be required for the transportation needs of external customers.
“So far we’ve delivered payloads mainly for Airbus Helicopters and Airbus Defence and Space in 2022/2023 and we’re going to expand our customer base in 2024,” said Lemonnier. To support this process, AiBT has formed an agreement with Airbus on further investment to certify the BelugaST to carry more types of helicopters, containers and aircraft engines.
“Later in 2024 we also plan to ramp-up with what we call ‘external flights’, usually long-haul missions,” Lemonnier continued. “We want to achieve three missions per month of that kind in 2024 – on top of the existing missions with the BelugaST throughout Europe in support of ATI’s service for Airbus’ production system.”
The BelugaST has a maximum payload of 40 tonnes, but its unique selling point is the largest cross section of any aircraft, with a cargo bay measuring 7.1 m high, 6.7 m wide and 39 m long.
Based on the A300-600 design, the BelugaST was used by Airbus to transport its own aircraft sections and equipment between manufacturing facilities. These are being replaced by BelugaXLs based on the larger A330-200 platform.
