HERPA Airbus Industries BelugaXL - XL#3 - F-GXLI

Because Airbus needed additional cargo capacity primarily for the serial production of the A350 XWB, and because the much-used Beluga fleet was also getting on in years, the airplane manufacturer began studies at the beginning of the 2010s to develop a successor, which resulted in concrete plans developing in 2014. The A330-200F was chosen as the basis for the new component transporter, with the short runways of the airports at Hawarden in Wales and Bremen being the main reason for selecting the smaller version of the A330. With a length of 63 meters and a height of 19 meters, the Beluga XL is a good six 6 meters longer than its A300-600ST predecessor, has a 1.1-meter wider fuselage, and a cargo volume of 2,209 m³, which is almost 1,000 m³ larger. This was exactly what is was required to be able to transport, for example, two instead of just one wing of an A350 in the future. Externally, the XL can be most easily recognized by its “smile”, which further emphasizes the appearance of the whale. F-GXLI is the third of currently six BelugaXL transporters and entered service in October 2020. The die-cast metal model is manufactured with an interchangeable plastic cargo door, allowing it to be displayed with the nose hatch open or closed.