The Airbus Beluga is one of the world's most iconic aircraft, instantly recognizable for its whale-shaped fuselage, hence the 'Beluga' name. The outsize cargo plane, initially known as the Airbus ...

The Beluga -- billed by Airbus as the world's biggest cargo plane in terms of volume transported -- looks something like a whale, with a rounded fuselage mounted on an Airbus A300-600 base.

Recently, Airbus unveiled a new generation of its bulbous cargo planes called the BelugaXL. It will take over for the current generation A300-600ST Beluga that has been in service for two decades.