Austrian Airlines first to adopt ‘shark skin’ technology on 777-200ER aircraft
From December this year, Austrian Airlines will be the first airline to adopt the fuel-saving AeroSHARK surface film to its Boeing 777-200ER aircraft; with the product predicted to save the fleet around 8,300 metric tons of CO2 over the next four years.
The surface technology (jointly developed by Lufthnsa Technik and German chemical company BASF) consists of ‘riblets’ around 50 micrometers thick, mimicking the structure of sharkskin and its friction-reducing characteristics. “By applying around 83 square metres of the riblet film to the Boeing 777-200ER’s fuselage and engine nacelles, a saving of around one percent of the total fuel consumption per flight can be achieved,” explained Lufthansa Technik.
To date, 17 Lufthansa Group aircraft have already been equipped with the AeroSHARK technology (including a Lufthansa Airlines 747-400, 12 SWISS 777-300ERs and four Lufthansa Cargo 777Fs. Harald Gloy, chief operating officer at Lufthnsa Technik, described the rollout of the film to Austrian’s 777-200ERs as “great news for other operators of the type”.
“At one percent, the sharkskin’s efficiency potential may not sound like much, but in total it will save thousands of tons of CO2 per year on long-haul flights,” highlighted Francesco Sciortino, chief operating officer at Austrian Airlines. “Even though our Boeing 777-200ERs are in their final years of service, we take this investment to get one step closer to our CO2 reduction targets”.
Each of Austrian’s 777-200ERs will be fitted with around 830 square meters of Riblet film to its fuselage and engine nacelles, with the aircraft to undergo the retrofit incrementally. The modification is expected to be completed in March 2025.
