The Airbus Beluga, a whale-shaped aircraft offered by the European company Airbus, made its appearance at Da Nang International Airport in central Vietnam for the very first time on Tuesday morning, grabbing social media attention due to its unique shape.

A Da Nang airport representative told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Tuesday afternoon that the airport witnessed the arrival of a ferry flight using the uniquely-shaped Airbus A300-600ST early on the same day.

Ferry flight is the movement of an aircraft without payload.

The ferry flight operated with the Airbus Beluga landed at the Da Nang airport on its way from Kolkata Airport in India and was scheduled to leave the Vietnamese airport for Taiwan on Tuesday evening.

The Airbus-operated Belugas, also known as the A300-600ST Super Transporter or Beluga because of their resemblance to the eponymous whale, serve Airbus production and assembly activities.

They are also available for freight companies and other customers to meet outsized freight transportation needs.

After this aircraft touched down at the Da Nang airport, many photographers in the central Vietnamese city took this rare occasion to capture stunning pictures of the Beluga. 

Duong Thanh Tung, a photographer based in Da Nang, said the Da Nang airport had received many well-known aircraft in the world, such as the Air Force One, designated for carrying the U.S. president, and another plane transporting the president of Russia.

This was the first time Tung had seen such a huge whale-shaped aircraft at the airport, he said.

Many social media groups in Da Nang also shared lots of pictures of the Beluga aircraft.

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