AIRBUS INDUSTRIE has set up a subsidiary to operate its A300-600ST (Super Transporter) "Beluga" outsized transports on commercial cargo charters. It is estimated that the new division, Airbus Transport International (ATI), could earn the consortium up to $15 million-worth of revenue each year using spare capacity on the Beluga fleet.
The Beluga is used to transport airframe subassemblies between the consortium's various production plants. Based on the A300-600 airframe, the Beluga was developed by Airbus to replace the ageing fleet of Boeing Super Guppy turboprops. Two Belugas have already been delivered, with the third due in 1997, and the fourth and final aircraft in June 1998.
The cargo operation will make use of the gaps in between the Beluga fleet's commitments to the Airbus production schedule. This non-productive capacity amounts to an estimated 800 flying hours a year across the four-aircraft fleet. Louis Germain, vice-president of Airbus' transport directorate, has been appointed as ATI's chairman, with up to 35 flight operations and technical staff being seconded to the new division.
According to Germain, Airbus can expect "some $15 million in gross revenue each year", if it were able to sell that spare capacity commercially. The division is confident that the target is achievable, claiming that some 50 unsolicited requests were made for the Beluga in 1995 alone.
Potential commercial-cargo applications include space products (satellites and rockets), aircraft, simulators, engines, yachts and racing cars.
Following the review of a report by the Airbus Industrie managing director Jean Pierson, the consortium's supervisory board has requested an acceleration of the A340-500/600 growth studies to enable a comprehensive assessment of the programme by the end of the year before a formal launch decision (Flight International, 9 October, P4).
Source: Flight International
