Sharkskin technology helps airlines save fuel and reduce emissions

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The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has granted Lufthansa Technik a so-called Supplemental Type Certificate (STC), which paves the way for the series modification of two variants of the Boeing 777 with fuel-saving aeroshark foils.

Through the STC, the fleet-wide roll-out of this sustainability-focused technology, jointly developed by Lufthansa Technik and chemical company BASF, can now begin at launch customers Lufthansa Cargo and Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS).

Thanks to its special surface structure of microscopic ribs, called riblets, the AeroSHARK coating reduces the frictional resistance of the aircraft skin. As a result, fuel consumption and CO2 emissions are reduced by around 1%. For every Boeing 777-300ER operated by SWISS, this represents annual savings of around 400 tonnes of fuel and over 1,200 tonnes of carbon dioxide. The slightly shorter Boeing 777F saves around 370 tons of fuel and 1,170 tons of CO2 each year.

The Swiss airline’s first AeroSHARK-equipped Boeing 777-300ER (HB-JNH) had already started daily operations in October using a temporary “Permit to Fly” from the Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA) valid for only this single airplane. The STC now allows Lufthansa Technik to serially apply nature-inspired riblet foils to any Boeing 777-300ER and 777F aircraft.

The AeroSHARK modification of HB-JNH already started at the end of August and culminated in STC flights with EASA on 8 and 9 September. These flights were flown to gather detailed evidence that the AeroSHARK modification had no adverse impact on the operational safety and handling of the Boeing 777. The initial flights were followed by several weeks of evaluating the collected data and other documents, such as the values ​​measured by the flow simulations. After recently completing the review of all submitted documents, EASA has finally granted the STC.

“AeroSHARK’s approval of the Boeing 777 variants is an important step in deploying this new technology for more sustainable aviation,” said Soeren Stark, Chief Executive Officer of Lufthansa Technik. “With our partner BASF, we can now support our customers in making entire secondary fleets more climate-friendly. Furthermore, we intend to make use of the new technology for additional types of aircraft. We are the only MRO company in the world to offer such solutions to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions for commercial aircraft. We are of course very proud of this.”

AeroSHARK will now be installed on SWISS and on all twelve 777-300ERs and eleven 777Fs of Lufthansa Cargo. They will therefore be the first passenger and cargo airlines in the world to optimize a complete sub-fleet with Riblet films. Once all Boeing 777s from Lufthansa Cargo and SWISS have received their AeroSHARK modification, they will reduce the Lufthansa Group’s carbon footprint by more than 25,000 tonnes annually.

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