From December 2024, Austrian Airlines (AUA) will equip aircraft with a surface technology developed by the German parent company Lufthansa and the chemical company BASF. It is modeled on the particularly aerodynamic shark skin and optimizes the aerodynamics of the aircraft, according to a press release from the airline.
By March 2025, the fuselage and engine nacelles of four Boeing aircraft (type 777-200ER) – around 830 square meters – will be covered with the film. It reduces frictional resistance, which can save around one percent of total fuel consumption per flight. Extrapolated to the four aircraft, this means a saving of 2,650 tons of fuel and 8,300 tons of CO2. That corresponds to around 46 flights from Vienna to New York.
“The efficiency potential of the ‘shark skin’ may not sound like much at one percent, but it saves thousands of tons of CO2 per year on long-haul flights,” says AUA board member Francesco Sciortino. According to AUA, the technology is an important building block for Austrian Airlines’ CO2 reduction path. Together with the Lufthansa Group, the airline wants to reduce its CO2 emissions by 30.6 percent by 2030 compared to 2019.
