<P> Various options were studied to serve as a replacement transport medium for the Super Guppies, including methods of surface transportation by road, rail, and sea; these alternatives were discarded in favor of a principally air - based solution as they were considered to have reliability concerns and were time - consuming in operation; in addition, the assembly line in Toulouse was not conveniently accessible by any of the surface methods . A key requirement of the new air transporter was the need to accommodate every major component being manufactured by Airbus, including the then - heaviest planned part, that being the wing of the larger variants of the Airbus A340 . A speedy development program was also necessitated in order to begin introducing the prospective type in time to take over duties from the Super Guppy fleet, which was scheduled to draw down in the mid-1990s . </P> <P> Several different types of aircraft were examined for potential use, including the Antonov An - 124, Antonov An - 225, Ilyushin Il - 86, Boeing 747, Boeing 767, Lockheed C - 5 Galaxy, and McDonnell Douglas C - 17 Globemaster III; the use of any existing aircraft was eventually discounted due to a lack of internal space to accommodate the desired components, the use of a piggyback arrangement was also dismissed as impractical . Boeing made their own offer to convert several Boeing 767s for the requirement, but this was viewed as inferior to developing a purpose - built aircraft using Airbus' existing wide - body twin - engined Airbus A300 - 600R instead . </P> <P> In August 1991, Aérospatiale and DASA, two of the major Airbus partners, formed a 50 / 50 joint venture company, Super Airbus Transport International (SATIC), based in Toulouse, France, to develop a new - build replacement for the Super Guppy fleet . The selected starting point for the design was the Airbus A300, leading to the new airframe being designated as the A300 - 600ST Super Transporter . Following a pre-design period by SATIC, detailed design work was performed by Aérospatiale and DASA while subcontractors were selected to complete the 15 separate work packages; amongst these subcontractors, CASA was selected to produce the upper fuselage, Dornier provided the hydraulic systems, and Sogerma performed the final assembly work . The A300 - 600ST was not a like - for - like replacement, being larger, faster, and more efficient than the preceding Super Guppies . Airbus Industries elected to invest $1 billion into the program, this sum included the aircraft themselves, the cargo loading system, and program management . </P> <P> In September 1992, construction work begun on the first aircraft, the maiden flight of which took place in September 1994 . Following a total of 335 flight hours being performed during the test program, restricted certification of the type was awarded by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) in October 1995, enabling the A300 - 600ST "Beluga" to enter service shortly thereafter . In addition to the first aircraft, four more Belugas were constructed at a rate of roughly one per year; from start to finish, each airframe reportedly took roughly three years to complete . Modification work was performed at Toulouse using components provided by the Airbus assembly line . Originally a total of four aircraft were to be built along with an option for a fifth aircraft being available, which was later firmed up . </P>

Every airbus is delivered on the wings of a boeing