Airbus BelugaXL (A330-743L)

Updated: October 2026 – An aircraft straight out of a children’s book: a whale face grins at the front, and above it arches a hump that looks almost as tall as the rest of the aircraft. If you see something like that in the sky, it is the Airbus BelugaXL. It carries no passengers and appears on no schedule, but it is indispensable for Airbus: it moves fuselage parts and wings between the European plants. This page shows you how to recognize it, what sets it apart from the older BelugaST and how to get it in front of your lens in Germany.

What is the Airbus BelugaXL?

The BelugaXL is a special transporter for oversized components. Airbus does not build its aircraft in a single place: fuselage sections, wings and tail units are made at plants in Germany, France, Spain and the United Kingdom and have to get to the final assembly lines in Toulouse and Hamburg. Many of these parts are too big for long-distance truck transport. So Airbus flies them itself – with the BelugaST since 1995, with the BelugaXL since 2020.

Technically, the BelugaXL is a heavily modified A330-200F. Airbus combined parts from several A330 variants: the rear fuselage of the A330-300, the forward fuselage of the A330-200 and the reinforced cargo floor of the freighter version. The cockpit moved down, and on top sits a huge cargo bay about 8.8 meters in diameter with a volume of roughly 2,200 cubic meters. The front of the cargo bay above the cockpit swings up as a large cargo door so the components can be pushed in from the front.

The program’s key dates: launch in November 2014, final assembly from December 2016 in Toulouse, first flight on July 19, 2018, EASA type certification on November 13, 2019 and entry into service on January 9, 2020. Originally five aircraft were planned, and in 2019 Airbus internally ordered a sixth. The last one was delivered in June 2024, and the fleet has been complete since then. You can find more about the manufacturer itself on the Airbus page.

Why Airbus needs its own transporter

With the ramp-up of the A320 family and the A350, the five BelugaSTs reached their limits. Around 2013, Airbus examined several alternatives and decided to convert an aircraft of its own again – this time on an A330 basis. The advantages: longer range, more payload and a wider cargo bay. According to Airbus, the BelugaXL offers about 30 percent more transport capacity than its predecessor and, for example, takes two A350 wings at once where the BelugaST managed only one.

Compared with the BelugaST, the fuselage is about seven meters longer and considerably wider. The maximum payload is about 51 tonnes, and the maximum takeoff weight is 227 tonnes. It is powered by two Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines, the proven A330 powerplant; you can read more about the engine manufacturer on the Rolls-Royce page. Because the thick hump creates a lot of drag, the BelugaXL cruises at about Mach 0.69, noticeably slower than a regular A330 – for routes within Europe, that hardly matters.

Flight operations are handled by the Airbus subsidiary Airbus Transport International with the ICAO code BGA. Airbus at times served external charter customers with the old BelugaST through its subsidiary Airbus Beluga Transport; according to industry reports, that business has been dormant since early 2025 and is being wound down. The BelugaXL works exclusively within Airbus’ own plant network.

The face: a livery chosen by vote

The grin is no coincidence. In 2017, Airbus let its employees vote on six livery designs, and the “Smiling BelugaXL” design won with more than 40 percent of the votes. Since then, the aircraft have worn whale eyes at the cockpit area and a broad mouth under the nose. The first aircraft rolled out of the paint shop in Toulouse in 2018 in this paint scheme.

For spotters, that is a stroke of luck: no other aircraft looks at you so directly. According to reports, the sixth and last aircraft was given a modified facial detail for its 2023 presentation. Whether individual aircraft differ further by now is best checked with current photos for each registration. How to find such special features systematically is explained in the guide to special liveries.

The three features that are enough to identify it

With the BelugaXL, the question is rarely “What is that?” but rather “Which Beluga is that?” Three observations are enough.

In the end, the registration confirms the identification. The BelugaXLs fly with French registration, and the registrations usually begin with F-GXL. How registrations are structured is covered in the article Understanding aircraft registrations.

BelugaXL or BelugaST?

Both Belugas share the principle: a widebody aircraft gets a cargo bay on top, and the cockpit slides down. In the details, they differ considerably.

Feature	BelugaXL	BelugaST
Basis	A330-200F	A300-600
ICAO type designator	A337	A3ST
Length	63.1 m	about 56 m
First flight	2018	1994
Tail	large, with extra and ventral fins	smaller, with extra fins on the horizontal stabilizer
Wingtips	winglets	small wingtip fences
Paint scheme	whale face	no face
Built	6	5

The BelugaST is at the end of its career: at the end of January 2026, one aircraft flew to Broughton in Wales for retirement, where it gets a second career as an educational facility. Whether any BelugaST still flies for Airbus after that is reported differently. According to Airbus, the BelugaXL will be the sole parts transporter from mid-2027. Experiencing both generations together is therefore hardly possible anymore. You can find more about the underlying platform on the Airbus A300-600 page.

How it differs from other outsize freighters

You won’t confuse the BelugaXL with an ordinary freighter. What gets interesting is where it stands in a size comparison.

For perspective: the Antonov An-124 is heavier and has more payload, and the legendary An-225 played in yet another league. The BelugaXL scores on volume: it is designed for bulky but comparatively light components. For an overview of aviation’s giants, see the article The largest aircraft in the world, and how to tell freighters apart in general is explained in How to recognize cargo aircraft.

Where you can catch the BelugaXL

The BelugaXL shuttles between the Airbus sites in Europe. Known destinations include Toulouse, Hamburg-Finkenwerder, Bremen, Broughton in Wales, Saint-Nazaire and Getafe near Madrid. According to industry reports, the fleet serves a total of eleven European destinations. There are no public schedules; which routes are flown when depends on production.

In Germany, Hamburg-Finkenwerder is the most important place. Airbus operates a final assembly line for the A320 family there, and fuselage sections and wings arrive by Beluga, among other means. Finkenwerder is a company airfield and not to be confused with Hamburg’s commercial airport in Fuhlsbüttel. Where you can legally stand around the plant grounds is explained in the guide Spotting at Airbus Finkenwerder.

Bremen is the second German site: on November 14, 2018, the BelugaXL landed there for the first time in Germany to carry out loading and unloading tests. The Airbus plant lies directly at the airport, and the loading hall was specially adapted to the larger aircraft. From the observation deck at Bremen Airport you have a front-row seat with a bit of luck.

Location	Chance of success	Why
Hamburg-Finkenwerder	high	final assembly line, regular rotations
Bremen	medium	Airbus plant at the airport, irregular arrivals
Toulouse	high	home base and final assembly, but outside the DACH region
Other German airports	very low	at most diversions or special flights

How to follow movements live and what ADS-B data reveals is explained in the article Flight tracking with ADS-B. The difference between callsign and flight number, which matters especially for plant flights, is covered in Callsign vs. flight number.

Spotting strategy for an aircraft with no schedule

With the BelugaXL, no arrival schedule helps you. Good spotters therefore combine tracking, weather and patience. The runway direction in use determines where it lands from – the basics are in the article Understanding runway direction in use. If you have been on site more often, you usually know patterns in the rotations; there is never a guarantee, though.

Especially at plant sites, barriers and no-entry rules take precedence. What is legally permitted is clarified in the article Is plane spotting legal?. You can find more exotics for your list under Spotting rare aircraft.

Photo tips specifically for the BelugaXL

The BelugaXL is a subject that immediately draws attention. A few points help you get the best out of it.

You work out in advance when the light is right; how that works is covered in the guide Planning the sun position for your photo spot. Which gear makes sense is explained in the plane spotting gear checklist. And if you are just getting started, Plane spotting for beginners gets you up to speed quickly.

Common mix-ups and how to rule them out

Conclusion

The BelugaXL is an aircraft you don’t mix up – except perhaps with its predecessor. Hump and whale face give you the type, tail and winglets separate it from the BelugaST, and the registration confirms. Because there are only six aircraft and no schedule, every sighting is a small success. Your best chances are in Hamburg-Finkenwerder and Bremen, with a tracking filter on A337 and some patience.