Lufthansa Technik announced on August 19 that the AeroSHARK film is expected to improve fuel efficiency by approximately 1%. While this may seem modest, the savings are significant when scaled across the airline’s long-haul operations. “At 1%, 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,” commented Francesco Sciortino, Chief Operating Officer of 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.”

Lufthansa Technik estimates that over the next four years, the modifications will result in fuel savings of approximately 2,650 metric tons and a reduction of over 8,300 metric tons of CO2, which is roughly equivalent to 46 round-trip flights between Vienna and New York. The modifications on Austrian’s 777-200ERs are scheduled to begin in December and are expected to be completed by March 2025, requiring about 830 square meters (8,900 square feet) of AeroSHARK film for each aircraft’s fuselage and engine nacelles.

“These are the first of, hopefully, many more aircraft of this type,” said Harald Gloy, Chief Operating Officer of Lufthansa Technik.

Currently, AeroSHARK is already in use on 17 aircraft within the Lufthansa Group fleet, including a Lufthansa 747-400, 12 Swiss 777-300ERs, and four Lufthansa Cargo 777Fs. As interest in the technology grows, Lufthansa Technik has revealed that they are in advanced discussions with several external airlines, and announcements regarding new customers are expected soon. Additionally, Lufthansa Technik and BASF are actively working to expand the application of AeroSHARK to other aircraft types, with particular interest in long-haul models such as the Airbus A330.