Beluga Airbus plane: Huge whale-looking aircraft declares emergency mid-flight squawking 7700 emergency code

RadarBox posted on X, formerly Twitter, at 1:30pm today (Tuesday 10 September) that the Airbus Beluga flight BGA123I is squawking the 7700 emergency code. The Airbus Transport International Beluga XL is operating as flight BGA1231 from Saint Nazaire to Hamburg and has declared an emergency en route.

One user posted on X that it “looked like” the aircraft is “heading for Schiphol Airport” in Amsterdam. Flightradar24 confirmed on X: “Update - this aircraft diverted to Amsterdam (AMS).”

The plane squawking 7700 indicates a general emergency. 7700 is a squawk code that is reserved for emergency situations and immediately alerts Air Traffic Control (ATC) and other units that the aircraft squawking 7700 is in distress.

It may be assigned by Air Traffic Control or the pilots may decide to enter it into their transponder themselves. The emergency comes after another Airbus BelugaXL touched down at Heathrow Airport on Monday (9 September) giving London plane-spotters the rare chance to see the whale-like aircraft. 

The unusually shaped carrier resembles a beluga whale and delivers spare parts to fix Airbus carriers. It touched down at 11am after flying from Toulouse in France. The plane touched down to deliver parts to a British Airways plane that had been grounded since April due to a collision.

The Airbus Beluga was due to leave Heathrow at 17:40 on Monday to return to Toulouse according to Flightradar24. The Beluga is a massive cargo aircraft designed to carry aircraft parts or large cargo. Airbus currently operates a fleet of six Beluga planes.