Lufthansa Technik (LHT) and Swiss International Air Lines (Swiss) have completed application of AeroShark surface film on 12 Boeing 777-300ERs.
AeroShark intends to apply the technology to other aircraft types as well.
Lufthansa subsidiary Swiss said in a May 15 statement that it has modified all its 777-300ERs with sharkskin technology over the past one-and-a-half years.
Established by LHT and BASF, the sharkskin technology is applied to the fuselage and engine nacelles. The film reduces drag during flight which enables fuel and emission savings.
“Lufthansa Technik and BASF plan to certify AeroShark for additional areas on the aircraft and additional aircraft types.
Currently, the Airbus A330 is particularly interesting for us,” a Lufthansa Technik spokeswoman said May 15. “Unfortunately, we cannot yet say when a certificate is expected to be issued.”
Swiss became the first airline to deploy LHT’s AeroShark riblet film technology on its aircraft. By applying a total of 950 m² (10,226 ft.²) of the film to the fuselage and engine nacelle surfaces of a 777, a fuel savings of some 1.1% to 1.5% per flight can be achieved. With its gradually upgraded fleet, Swiss said it is already saving over 2,200 tons of kerosene and around 7,100 metric tons of CO2 in 2023.
Besides the 12 777-300s from Swiss, four 777Fs from Lufthansa Cargo also use AeroShark. The Aviation Week Network Fleet Discovery database shows Lufthansa Cargo with nine 777Fs currently in service with eight more on order. All 17 777Fs are expected to be equipped with AeroShark by 2027. The modification of the next aircraft will start in August as part of regular maintenance work.
When asked if more Lufthansa Group airlines will begin using sharkskin technology in the future, the spokeswoman did not provide more details. “I can say that Lufthansa was very heavily involved in the development. We see the most [positive] impact on long-haul flights,” the spokeswoman said. “The next sample could be the A330.” A total of 17 Lufthansa Group aircraft have been modified with AeroShark.
Additionally, Swiss plans on using AeroShark for its 14 A330-300s. “Currently, we are awaiting certification in 2024,” Swiss CEO Dieter Vranckx said March 12. “Subsequently, our goal is to integrate sharkskin technology into the A330 fleet by 2025.”
“Basically, we are very satisfied, and there is nothing wrong with it.
It remains to be seen to what extent AeroShark can be implemented,” the spokeswoman said. The best performance is during long cruise flights, which is why we started with the 777s. We will check everything else, completely independent of the certification [for another aircraft types].”
The last Swiss 777-300, registration HB-JNF, was fitted with AeroShark at the beginning of May. “The fuel-saving effect of the bionic film has been confirmed in more than 60,000 flight hr. at Swiss alone. Each aircraft takes about a week to have its AeroShark film applied, which requires high-precision workmanship from our personnel,” Swiss Head of Technical Fleet Management Claus Bauer said. “We’re proud, too, to be the first airline in the world to have equipped an entire aircraft fleet with this innovative technology.”
The implementation of AeroShark was preceded by years of research and development work by LHT and the chemical company BASF. At the end of 2022, EASA granted LHT the approval for the series conversion of two 777 aircraft types with AeroShark after an extensive examination process.
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