The first of Airbus’ five aptly named Beluga XL airlifters will provide an additional 30% transport capacity for Airbus’ industrial network and will begin taking shape in early 2017.

The five aircraft will join the existing fleet of five A300-600ST Super Transporters to carry complete sections of the company’s aircraft from production sites around Europe to final assembly lines in France, Germany and Spain.

The Beluga XL will have a range of 2,200 nautical miles at its maximum payload of 53 metric tons. Image credit: Airbus.Airbus says the Beluga XL’s lower fuselage will be the same as the Freighter version of its A330-200 jetliner and is to be built on the A330 final assembly line adjacent to Toulouse-Blagnac Airport in southwestern France. Once a Beluga XL's lower fuselage is assembled, it will be moved to Airbus’ Lagardère industrial zone adjacent to the airport, where the build-up process into the outsized airlifter will take approximately 12 months per aircraft to complete.

The Beluga XL’s other aerostructure-specific components will be provided by external suppliers, including the significantly enlarged upper fuselage, the modified forward fuselage section with lowered nose and cockpit, a large forward cargo door allowing “roll-on/roll-off” loading directly onto the main deck and a pair of auxiliary vertical tailplane end-fins.

Airbus' Beluga XL program was launched in November 2014 to address the transport capacity requirement to support the ramp-up in production of the A350 XWB, among other aircraft. The Beluga XL—the first of which is expected to enter service in 2019—will have an overall length of 63.1 meters, a fuselage diameter of 8.8 meters and a range of 2,200 nautical miles at its maximum payload of 53 metric tons.