A plane branded a 'whale in the sky' has made its maiden voyage as the Airbus Beluga XL departed Toulouse Thursday morning.

The impressive aircraft, designed to resemble a Beluga whale, took to the skies as part of a 10-month test to see if the jet will be worthy of entering service.

Airbus plan to eventually bring the air cargo craft to Broughton in North Wales.

Complete with a whale mouth and eyes on each side of the nose, the Beluga XL will replace the current five plane Beluga ST fleet .

The new jet can carry six more tonnes and is 20ft longer, while being powered by two Rolls-Royce Trent 700 high bypass turbofan aircraft engines.

It also has an enlarged fuselage “bubble” section that is six metres longer and one metre wider than on the Beluga ST.

The maiden flight is expected to take around three and a half hours before landing back at Toulouse.

Tim Orr, head of branding at Airbus, said: "The six designs we proposed for consideration by employees respected our brand identity while running from the conventional to the unconventional, even adding a touch of fun."

Airbus were live tweeting the plane's maiden voyage this morning, jokingly posting: "Whale, whale, whale...that's a lovely day for a maiden flight don't you think."

They later tweeted "whale done" after a successful take off.

Crowds of people had gathered alongside the runway to witness it taking to the air for the very first time

The test schedule could see the plane visiting North Wales in the coming months after upgrade work is completed at the Flintshire runway to accommodate the plane.

A total of five 'smiling whale' planes are expected to be put into service.