Airbus started operating outsized aircraft in 1974 to support its production sites scattered across Europe, bringing fuselage sections and wings to the final assembly line in Toulouse. The first type was the Super Guppy, a highly modified Boeing Stratocruiser, with a fleet of four aircraft eventually being operated by subsidiary Airbus Transport International (ATI). As A320 Family production rates picked up, and the larger A330 and A340 were launched, there was a need for greater capacity, which led to the introduction from 1995 of five Beluga ST aircraft, converted from the A300-600.
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