Swiss International Airlines Reduce CO2 Emissions with “Sharkskin” Technology Developed by Lufthansa and BASF
Swiss International Air Lines takes advantage of the aircraft skin technology by applying the innovative riblet film to its Boeing 777-300ER passenger aircraft fleet. Its investment in this new technology will enable to substantially reduce the Swiss Boeing 777 fleet’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and fuel consumption. The new biomimetic film has been jointly developed by Lufthansa Technik and BASF.
The film features millions of ‘riblets’ – small protrusions just 50 micrometers high – which replicate the highly hydrodynamic skin of sharks, and thus reduce an aircraft’s aerodynamic drag wherever it is applied.
By applying a total of 950 square meters of the riblet film to the fuselage and engine nacelle surfaces of a Boeing 777, fuel savings of some 1.1 percent can be achieved. This will reduce its annual fuel consumption by over 4,800 tonnes and the total annual carbon dioxide emissions of the Swiss Boeing 777 fleet by up to 15,200 tonnes – the amount emitted respectively by some 87 long-haul flights from Zurich to Mumbai.