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This photo taken on Thursday, June 28, 2018 and provided
by Airbus shows the first BelugaXL rolling out of the paintshop,
unveiling a special livery, in Toulouse, southern France. The BelugaXL
will now undertake ground tests before its first flight planned in
summer 2018. (Jean-Vincent Reymondon/Airbus via AP)
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Associated Press
TOULOUSE, France
A whale of a transport aircraft will be flying high later this summer sporting the grin of a Beluga whale.
The Airbus BelugaXL, a massive transport plane, made a presentation on Thursday, its nose cone making it look like a whale. Airbus employees, 20,000 of them, voted on one of six looks and the whale face that matches its name won.
After ground tests, the oversized aircraft is to make its first flight later this summer and enter service in 2019.
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