As it touched down at Kolkata airport on Saturday evening, a whale-shaped jet, which raised questions and put smiles on people’s faces, became the buzz of the town. The jet took off late on Sunday, carrying two helicopters in its large cabin, which is roughly four times the size of a standard wide-body aircraft, on its way to Pattaya, Thailand. This was the aircraft’s second visit to Kolkata, the first being 23 years ago in 1999.
The Airbus A300 B4-608 ST super transporter, often known as the Beluga, is a modified version of the normal A3000-600 wide-body airliner that can transport aircraft components and heavy cargo. When you see a charming whale or dolphin-faced plane, you can’t help but smile. The plane is about six stories tall and has a wing span of nearly 45 metres. Its internal cargo hold measures 124 feet long, 23 feet wide, and 23 feet tall.
The aircraft caused a stir in Kolkata. Now, it has been in service since March 1996, with a total of 3,109 flights and 4,816 flying hours. There is also the large variant of Beluga, named ‘BelugaXL.’
In 1999, the Beluga plane arrived in Kolkata bearing Eugene Delacroix’s massive artwork Liberty Leading the People, which had been on display at the Louvre in Paris since 1874. It was flown to Tokyo that year through Bahrain and Kolkata. The artwork was too huge to fit into a Boeing B747. It was transported vertically within a customized pressurized container with isothermal protection and an anti-vibration mechanism.
“Is it a humpback whale? Is it a bird? The Beluga has arrived! Yes, we are enthralled by this beast. Are you?” the Kolkata airport’s Twitter handle posted its excitement on Sunday afternoon. The enthusiasm was shared by flyers as well. A passenger, Soumen Mukherjee, took a snapshot of the plane and tweeted, “Airbus Beluga observed in Kolkata, possibly a refuelling stop, however a very unusual visitor.”
Airbus employees voted on their favored design for the big airliner among six other alternatives. With 40% of the poll from 20,000 employee votes, the “Smiling BelugaXL” was the obvious winner.
But what were the alternatives? Although Airbus has not published the other designs, some Reddit users have mentioned a pink version of the plane that was presumably runner-up. Another idea was an all-blue beluga.
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