A300’s capacity but with true intercontinental
range, and the stretched -300, meant the
earlier aircraft type was no longer at the
forefront of efficiency. Most passenger
airlines began retiring their eets, either to
be scrapped or converted to freighters. The
last operators ying the A300 on passenger
ights were China Eastern, Thai Airways and
Kuwait Airways.
That only leaves Iran where, due to
sanctions banning the sale of new aircraft,
A300B2 and B4s soldier on with Iran Air,
Mahan Air and Meraj Air (previously Saha
Air). The sanctions are in the process of
being lifted and, with big orders placed
with Airbus and Boeing, the A300s will be
replaced by new aircraft.
But that is not entirely the end of the
A300 story. It continues to ply the airways
with a number of freight operators, including
FedEx and UPS, whose youngest A300s are
only just coming up to their tenth birthdays.
Elsewhere, European Air Transport has a
eet of 21 aircraft (currently in the livery
of DHL), there are a number of Turkish
operators (MNG Airlines, MyCargo and
Onur Air), plus Sudan Airways, Egyptair
and Air Hong Kong. Airbus has announced
a support package for the type that is
guaranteed up to 2025, which means the
A300 will easily surpass half a century of
ying.
The 1960s’ dream of a commercially
successful European airliner project has
been more than fully realised. As the world’s
rst widebody twin-jet and the aircraft that
launched Airbus as a manufacturer, the
A300 truly deserves its place in aviation
history.http://www.aviation-news.co.uk 71BELUGAS
Although the rst components of the A300 were delivered from their subcontractors around Europe to the
Toulouse assembly line by surface transport, it quickly became apparent that key sections would bene t from
being moved by air.
Thus Airbus acquired its rst Aero Spacelines Super Guppy in 1974 and built up to an eventful eet of four.
These unique machines, based on the Boeing C-97J Turbo Stratocruiser but with a vastly expanded upper
fuselage, were used by Airbus to y completed sub-assemblies, such as fuselage barrels from Germany and
wing sets from Wales. This was satisfactory for a couple of decades, but by the end of the 1980s the huge
Airbus empire needed more carrying capacity.
Airbus considered a number of options (including a proposal submitted by its great rival Boeing), but it was
nally decided that the best solution was an in-house adaption of the A300-600R, to be known as the A300-
600ST Super Transporter. Airbus now also uses the name Beluga.
The project was established as a joint venture between Aérospatiale and Deutsche Airbus (now DaimlerChrysler).
The nished aircraft has an 80% airframe commonality with a regular A300-600R, including the wings, GE
engines, landing gear, lower fuselage and pressurised ight deck and 90% systems commonality.
The rst Beluga was assembled in 16 months and the initial example took to the air on September 13, 1994.
After 400 hours’ test ying, the A300-600ST was certi ed on September 25, 1995 and introduced to service
in January 1996. The next three Belugas were delivered at a rate of one a year: March 1996, May 1997, June
1998 and followed by a fth machine in January 2001.
The Beluga can carry the forward fuselage of an A330, measuring 18ft 4in (5.6m) by 82ft (25m) or a complete
set of wings, which weigh 42 tonnes. The Beluga is signi cantly faster than the Super Guppy, and can be
loaded and unloaded twice as fast.
The Belugas themselves are slated to be replaced in 2020 by new Beluga XL aircraft currently under
development and based on the A330.Right: Egyptair has operated ten A300B4s and
14 A300-600s, including SU-GAS, delivered
new in 1990. It was converted to a freighter
in Dresden in 2005 and remains in service
today. AirTeamImages.com/Paul BuchroederBelow: Airbus A300 F-BUAD was the third
A300 built and was retained by Airbus as a
ying test bed, pioneering the y-by-wire
controls that were installed on the A300-
600 and the narrowbody A320 series. In
2005 it was modi ed for use as a zero-G
trainer for the European space programme
and today is preserved in Cologne having
been retired in 2014. AirTeamImages.com/
Philippe Noret Airbus initially used Super Guppy aircraft to carry completed sub-assemblies to the nal
assembly line. Later the task was taken up by specially-customised A300-600ST Super
Transporters, also known as Belugas. These will be replaced by Beluga XLs, based on the
A330-200, which will start test ying this year, replacing the A300-600STs in 2018. Airbus66-71_a300DC.mf.indd 71 03/02/2017 17:47