European aerospace leader Airbus confirmed on Friday that it is discontinuing its specialized cargo operation utilizing its enormous Beluga aircraft, resulting in the elimination of 75 positions.
All flights operated by the Airbus Beluga Transport fleet have been halted, an Airbus representative confirmed to AFP following a report in Les Echos business daily.
The Beluga - described by Airbus as the world's largest cargo plane in terms of volume carried - resembles a whale, with a rounded body mounted on an Airbus A300-600 base.
Large enough to carry two full-size helicopters of the Super-Puma type, the mega-transporter was introduced into service in 1995 specifically to transport large sections of aircraft between different Airbus production sites.
Airbus started replacing its initial generation of planes, the Beluga Super Transporters, with the even larger Beluga XLs in 2019. The Beluga XLs will continue serving as couriers moving parts between different Airbus facilities.
The consortium rearranged the existing aircraft by launching AiBT in 2022, featuring four planes available for transporting oversized cargo to customers in the aerospace, energy, maritime, military, space, and humanitarian relief fields.
Airbus reported a noticeable shift in certain markets towards using marine freight transportation, despite the continued high demand for global air cargo.
However, this was not the primary factor behind the decision to close the business.
Our decision to cease operations is not related to the current state of the air freight market," said the spokesperson, adding "The primary hurdle we faced was the substantial difficulties encountered in our day-to-day operations.
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