HYDERABAD: The Airbus Beluga, one of the world’s largest cargo planes, arrived at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) on Friday, said the airport authorities.
Known as the “Whale of the Sky”, the Beluga measures 56.6 metres (184 ft and 3 inches) in length and 17.25 metres (56 ft and 7.13 inches) in height. It is also called the A300-608 super transporter.
The aircraft, which flew in from Muscat International Airport in Oman, stopped at RGIA for refuelling. This was the plane’s third visit to Hyderabad in the past two years, first in December 2022 and in August 2023. It departed for Thailand at around 3 pm.
The Beluga is used for transporting oversized freight across various sectors, including space, energy, military, aeronautics, maritime, and humanitarian fields.
The BelugaSTs have been serving Airbus’ industrial airlift needs since the mid-1990s and are being gradually replaced by six new-generation BelugaXL.