Airbus has decided to renew a fleet of outsized cargo planes that it uses to transport aircraft sections between its key European factories, the planemaker said. The five new aircraft, based on the A330 passenger plane, will replace the current A300-based model, nicknamed Beluga after the bulbous shape of its specially expanded fuselage. The revised Beluga fleet will be ready for use in mid-2019, Airbus said in a statement. It did not disclose the cost. Airbus assembles most of its aircraft in Toulouse, France, and Hamburg, Germany from sections made at the planemaker's civil factories in Britain, France, Germany and Spain. The new transporter will continue to ferry aircraft sections between the four main sites, but will not be used for offshore assembly plants, which will continue to be served by sea. Airbus assembles some A320 aircraft in Tianjin, China, and is building a similar assembly facility in Mobile, Alabama. (Reuters)