‘Sharkskin’ tech makes first flight with Austrian Airlines 777-200ER

Austrian Airlines has made the first flight of a ‘Sharkskin’-equipped 777-200ER, the first of four units it will coat with Lufthansa Technik’s efficiency-enhancing surface technology.

AeroSHARK

The first Austrian Airlines 777-200ER to be retrofitted with an innovative efficiency-enhancing surface technology has completed its maiden flight, travelling from Bangkok to Vienna equipped with a special ‘Sharkskin’ fuel-saving film. A further three units of the type belonging to the airline are set to be modified by March this year, with the carrier reaffirming its commitment to a timeline first outlined in August.

Despite the Lufthansa Group already employing the product on another 17 of its aircraft (including a Lufthansa Airlines 747-400, 12 SWISS 777-300ERs and four Lufthansa Cargo 777Fs), its inclusion on the 777-200ER marks the first time an airline has applied the skin to this particular type, with Lufthansa Technik having achieved a certification exemption from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

Jointly developed by Lufthansa Technik and German chemical company BASF, the AeroSHARK film technology consists of ‘riblets’ about 50 micrometers thick, mimicking the structure of sharkskin and its friction-reducing characteristics. Lufthansa Technik has previously explained that by applying around 83 square metres of the film to the 777-200ER’s fuselage and engine nacelles, a saving of around 1% of the total fuel consumption per flight can be achieved.

“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”. Over the next four years, the AeroSHARK technology is estimated to save Austrian Airlines around 2,650 tonnes of fuel and over 8,300 tonnes of CO2 – an important element of the airline’s ambition to reduce its CO2 emissions by 30.6% by 2030

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