Lufthansa Technik’s fuel-saving AeroShark surface film has entered service on the Boeing 777-200ER with Austrian Airlines following approval for the modification by the European regulator.

Registered OE-LPC, the twinjet performed its first flight with AeroShark installed between Bangkok International and Vienna on 13 January.

AeroSHARK-c-Austrian Airlines

Source: Austrian Airlines

Austrian will add the surface film to four of six 777-200ERs

Austrian will add the surface treatment to four of its six 777-200ERs; modification of the widebodies is expected to be complete by March.

Installation on the initial example, performed by Evergreen Aviation Technologies, took place during scheduled maintenance of the twinjet.

Developed by Lufthansa Technik and chemical firm BASF, the AeroShark technology – which uses tiny riblets measuring around 50 micrometres to optimise the air flow over the fuselage and engine nacelles – delivers a claimed 1% fuel-burn improvement.

Austrian is the first airline to use the AeroShark surface film on the 777-200ER. Previously it has been applied to the -300ER and Freighter variants of the Boeing widebody twin for customers including All Nippon Airways, Eva Air, LATAM Airlines and Swiss.

Dominic Perry is Aerospace Editor, Europe contributing extensively to flightglobal.com. Although specialising in the coverage of the helicopter industry, he has written on most topics in aerospace – be they commercial, defence or business aviation. In addition, there has been an increasing focus on the decarbonisation of the industry and zero-emission flight initiatives. He also helps to edit Flight International.View full Profile

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