In the early morning of October 10, the Airbus Beluga XL cargo plane took off and landed from Toulouse, France to Tianjin Binhai Airport. The Super Beluga freighter is a super transport aircraft of Airbus International Transport, the model is Airbus 330-743L, 63 meters long and 8 meters wide, its fuselage is 6 meters longer and 1 meter wider than its predecessor Airbus Great Beluga (A300-600ST), with an additional transport capacity of 30%, with the largest cargo compartment cross-section in the world's active cargo aircraft, capable of carrying two Airbus 350 wings and the giant tail of the Airbus 380, and can even accommodate part of the airframe of the Airbus 330. This is the first time that a Super Beluga freighter has come to China to transport the fuselage to Airbus' Tianjin factory.
Hand in hand to create cooperation to a new level
This time, the Airbus Super Beluga entered the Airbus Tianjin plant, marking that Tianjin can achieve seamless transportation from the factory to the factory like the European plant, and also effectively opened up the "last mile" of service enterprises, which is another milestone in the cooperation between Tianjin and Airbus. The cooperation between Tianjin Binhai Airport and Airbus Tianjin has also gradually warmed up and cooperated tacitly in the past ten years. It is reported that since the Airbus Tianjin assembly line was put into operation in 2008, Tianjin Binhai Airport has guaranteed the delivery of 780 Airbus aircraft and nearly 1,900 test flights.
As a key project in Tianjin, Tianjin Binhai Airport attaches great importance to the Airbus Tianjin project and gives full support to meet the operational needs of Airbus Tianjin. From the test flight and delivery of the first Airbus 320 aircraft in 2009, to the first green aircraft Airbus 330 in 2017, the first green aircraft Airbus 350 in 2021, to the start of construction of the second final assembly line project of the Airbus 320 family aircraft in 2023, and then to the transportation fuselage of the Airbus Super Beluga cargo aircraft into the Airbus Tianjin plant in 2024, Tianjin Binhai Airport has witnessed the vigorous development of the Airbus Tianjin industry and has grown together with it.
More than a decade ago, Airbus set its first civil aircraft production line outside Europe in Tianjin. Since then, driven by the leading projects, Tianjin's aviation industry has continued to accelerate, and many supporting projects have taken root in Tianjin, and more and more enterprises with new quality productivity have seized the opportunity to fly high here. In the process of Tianjin's efforts to become a gathering area for international cooperation in the aviation industry in mainland China and an influential aviation industry base at home and abroad, Tianjin Binhai Airport gives full play to the advantages of the local industry of air transport services, supports the continuous development and growth of the aviation industry with practical actions, and provides support for the upgrading of Tianjin's aviation industry.
Careful preparation lays a solid foundation
After learning about the airline's possible intention to fly, Tianjin Binhai Airport Logistics Company took the initiative to dock, communicated many times, and determined the flight plan.
This is the first time that Airbus International Transport, a subsidiary of Airbus, has left the European plant and come to the Airbus China plant to transport the fuselage. In order to ensure the smooth operation of airlines in Tianjin, the airport logistics company has communicated with airlines on security needs for many times, customized personalized support services according to the needs of airlines, communicated on many issues such as flight guidance, special car use, self-glide seat provision, general service provision, mop use, etc., and organized a pre-flight support communication meeting, communicated with relevant airport departments on the problems that airlines are concerned about one by one, and formulated a complete support plan.
In the end, with the strong support of the airport customs, bonded area customs, border defense and other units, and with the full cooperation of the relevant departments of the airport, the flight achieved a safe, convenient and efficient guarantee at the airport, and was highly recognized by the airline. The world's largest transport aircraft An-225, the largest passenger-to-cargo aircraft Airbus 380, the world's largest propeller aircraft An-22, Boeing series of largest all-cargo aircraft Boeing 747-8 and other cargo aircraft have taken off and landed in Tianjin.
Source: Jinyun reporter Liu Chang photography Ma Cheng correspondent Zhang Ziwei