SWISS has decided to equip its entire Boeing long-haul fleet with the fuel-saving AeroSHARK surface technology in the near future. From the middle of the year, a total of twelve Boeing 777-300ERs will gradually be fitted with the riblet films developed jointly by Lufthansa Technik and BASF. Their significantly reduced frictional resistance will make the fleet more than one percent more economical and lower in emissions.
Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) is the first passenger airline in the world to use this innovative surface technology to significantly reduce the fuel consumption and emissions of one of its existing fleets, thus improving economy and ecology in equal measure. With a total of around 950 square meters of Riblet film, the modification of the "long" Boeing 777-300ER will be even larger than the 800 square meters on the Boeing 777F of AeroSHARK's first customer Lufthansa Cargo. The potential for fuel andCO2 savings on this scale is around 1.1 percent. Converted to the operational profile of the Boeing 777-300ER at SWISS, this means an annual saving of more than 4,800 tons of kerosene and around 15,200 tons of carbon dioxide, as much as is usually produced on around 87 long-haul flights from Zurich to Mumbai.
"Reducing our ecological footprint is one of the biggest challenges facing the aviation industry, andcarbon-neutral flying by 2050 is a key strategic goal for SWISS," says Dieter Vranckx, SWISS's Chief Executive Officer. "We are very keen to actively promote the use of new technologies and to make targeted investments here. We are delighted to be the world's first passenger airline to install the innovative AeroSHARK technology on our Boeing 777 fleet, and to be able to make a further important contribution to more sustainable travel in the future."
"Due to the long lifecycles in our industry, we cannot only rely on new aircraft generations to reduce the ecological footprint, but must also optimize the existing fleets in a targeted manner towards sustainability," explained Dr. Johannes Bußmann, Chief Executive Officer of Lufthansa Technik. "AeroSHARK makes a significant contribution to this, and I am very pleased that SWISS is playing a pioneering role here."
"When developing our riblet surface film Novaflex Sharkskin, the focus was on a robust yet functional solution that meets the strict requirements of aviation and also supports our customers in achieving their sustainability goals," said Uta Holzenkamp, Head of BASF's Coatings division, who is also responsible for functional films in this position. "The fact that SWISS is convinced by our solution shows that economic activity and sustainability go hand in hand."
SWISS will be successively applying AeroSHARK to its Boeing 777-300ER fleet from mid-2022 as part of suitable maintenance layovers. The airline had already supported Lufthansa Technik and BASF during the development phase of AeroSHARK: In summer 2021, the wing of a Boeing 777 was measured during the entire flight on a regular scheduled flight between Zurich and San Francisco. Lufthansa Technik was then able to use the data collected to create highly accurate 3D models for flow simulations, on the basis of which the AeroSHARK modification is to be extended to the wings of the Boeing 777 in the near future in order to realize further savings potential. SWISS will also make one of its aircraft available for the STC flight to obtain the Supplemental Type Certificate from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
AeroSHARK is a surface technology developed jointly by Lufthansa Technik and BASF that consists of ribs measuring around 50 micrometers - the so-called riblets. It specifically imitates the properties of particularly aerodynamic sharkskin and thus optimizes the aerodynamics in relevant areas of the aircraft. This means that less fuel is required overall. Lufthansa Technik and BASF intend to consistently develop the new technology further in the direction of additional aircraft types and even larger surfaces, so that in future they will be able to support airlines around the world even more extensively in achieving their emission targets. In initial model calculations,CO2 emissions of up to three percent could even be avoided with the sharkskin technology in its maximum expansion stage.
