Austrian Airlines takes off with "sharkskin" for the first time
Modification of its three more long-haul aircraft by March 2025
The first Austrian Airlines B-777/200ER equipped with the AeroSHARK surface technology has successfully completed its maiden flight. Last night, the long-haul aircraft with the registration OE-LPC took off with “sharkskin” for the first time as OS26 from Bangkok to Vienna, where it landed today at 5:00am local time. The OE-LPC is the first of a total of four B-777/200ERs that carrier will equip with the technology. The modification of the four airplanes will be completed by March 2025.
By applying a total of 830 square metres of Riblet film per aircraft on the surface of the fuselage and engine nacelles, a saving of around one percent of the total fuel consumption per flight can be achieved. Applied to four B-777s, the technology can achieve savings of around 2,650 tonnes of fuel and over 8,300 tonnes of CO2. This corresponds to around 46 flights from Vienna to New York.
Austrian Airlines is one of the first carriers to use this technology on the B-777/200ER. To this end, Lufthansa Technik has obtained an extension of the existing certification for this aircraft type from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
AeroSHARK is a surface technology jointly developed by Lufthansa Technik and BASF, which consists of transparent ribs around 50 micrometres in size – the so-called riblets. It imitates the properties of particularly aerodynamic sharkskin and thus optimises the aerodynamics in relevant areas of the aircraft.
The sharkskin technology is a further step along Austrian Airlines’ CO2 reduction path. Together with the Lufthansa Group, Austrian carrier aims to reduce its emissions by 30.6% by 2030 compared to 2019.
AVIONEWS - World Aeronautical Press Agency