Airbus Beluga deliverS cabin TRAINER for new SAS Airbus fleet – FIRST VISIT TO THE NORDIC COUNTRIES

The world’s largest aircraft in terms of volume, Airbus’ A300-600ST Super Transporter – nicknamed “Beluga” – today carried the first full-size cabin trainer from Toulouse to the SAS Flight Academy in Copenhagen. The trainer is a unique combination of an Airbus A330/A340 (front) and an A320 Family fuselage (rear). It is fully equipped with seats, working galleys and toilets, allowing it to train crews for both SAS’s widebody and single-aisle Airbus aircraft.

The trainer is 20 metres long and weighs nearly 20 tonnes. Only the Airbus Super Transporter, with its cargo compartment of 1,400 cubic metres was able to transport this huge mock-up section within one day from Toulouse to Copenhagen.

SAS has ordered eleven market-leading Airbus A330/A340s and 12 Airbus A321s, the largest member of the world’s most successful airliner family. The first aircraft to be delivered to SAS will be an A340-300 by the end of July.

Named after the bulbous white whale it resembles, the Beluga was developed by Airbus primarily to transport its own aircraft sections among manufacturing sites across Europe. Today, five Belugas are in service with Airbus. The main deck of the A300-600ST is 37.7 metres long and the diameter of the cross section is 7.1 metres - wider than any other civil or military type. The Beluga can carry up to 47 tonnes of freight over a range of 1,670 km/900 nm.

Beyond meeting Airbus' own requirements, the aircraft are available for charter operations through a subsidiary company, Airbus Transport International, which has encountered ever-increasing demand for this unique service. To date the Belugas have carried several modules for the International Space Station and are the preferred transport for large and valuable paintings. The personalised service offered by ATI thus ensures a high level of customer satisfaction with loading, unloading and delivery designed to be fast, safe, flexible, and reliable, as demonstrated by nearly five years of successful operations.

Offering the most modern and comprehensive airliner family in the world, Airbus is the joint number one manufacturer in the market for large commercial aircraft.

To date, the Airbus family of aircraft has won some 4,400 orders from over 200 customers and operators. Headquartered in Toulouse, France, Airbus is an EADS joint Company with BAE SYSTEMS.