Airbus has transferred its BelugaST (Airbus A300-600ST, registration: F-GSTD) to the Aeroscopia Museum in Toulouse, France.
The BelugaST entered service in 1995, and with a fleet of five aircraft it has transported large components such as wings and fuselages between manufacturing sites across Europe. Its payload capacity is 40 tons, equivalent to one adult humpback whale. Notable special missions include setting the world record for the largest cargo ever transported by air in 1997, transporting Delacroix’s painting “Liberty Leading the People” from Paris to Tokyo in 1999, and carrying the Columbus module of the International Space Station (ISS).
In 2025, Airbus announced the retirement of the BelugaST. From around mid-2027 onward, the BelugaXL will become the company’s only dedicated parts transport aircraft, operating with a fleet of six to connect 11 sites across Europe.
At the museum, it will be exhibited as one of the main attractions, alongside the Concorde, the Super Guppy, and the Airbus A380.
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