Airbus Beluga lands at London’s Heathrow Airport

Airbus Beluga lands at London’s Heathrow Airport

An Airbus BelugaXL touched down at Heathrow Airport on Monday, giving London plane-spotters the rare chance to see the whale-like aircraft.

The unusually shaped carrier, which resembles a beluga whale, delivers spare parts to fix Airbus carriers. It touched down at 11am after flying from Toulouse in France. It was a welcome sight for British Airways, which required parts to fix a plane that had been grounded since a collision in April.

The sighting caused amusement on X, with some users saying it looked like a whale and others thinking it paid a closer resemblance to an ex-footballer.

Back in April, a Virgin Boeing 787-9 plane had completed a flight and had no passengers on board while it was being towed to a different part of the airfield when it collided with the stationary British Airways plane.

The BA aircraft is being assessed by engineering teams, the company said, adding it has provided an alternative aircraft to “limit the impact on our customers”.

 

Picture of Anastasiya Simsek

Anastasiya Simsek

Anastasiya Simsek started her journalism career in 2016 at Ukrainian TV-Channels: 24 Channel and 1+1 Media. Having worked across a number of different sectors, including news, medicine and lifestyle, she joined the Air Cargo Week editorial team in 2024. To share your news and exclusive insights, contact Anastasiya.Simsek@AirCargoWeek.com

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