Lufthansa Cargo equips a fourth freighter with CO2-efficient AeroSHARK technology

posted on 17th October 2023 by Eddie Saunders
[addtoany]
Lufthansa Cargo equips a fourth freighter with CO2-efficient AeroSHARK technology

On October 13, another Lufthansa Cargo Boeing 777F equipped with AeroSHARK technology entered service.

This is the fourth freighter to be equipped by Lufthansa Technik with the technology since February this year.

AeroSHARK is a functional surface film that imitates the microscopic structure of shark skin.

It reduces the aerodynamic drag on the fuselage and engine nacelles of the Boeing 777F, resulting in significant fuel and emissions savings.

This technology, jointly developed by Lufthansa Technik and BASF, will be successively applied to Lufthansa Cargo’s entire fleet of 777 freighters, making them more fuel efficient and reducing emissions.

As with the previous modified freighters, Lufthansa Technik expects fuel savings of about one percent.

Calculated over Lufthansa Cargo’s entire 777 fleet, this will save more than 4,000 metric tons of kerosene per year and thus almost 13,000 metric tons of CO2emissions.

This corresponds to about 53 cargo flights from Frankfurt to Shanghai.

“The special coating significantly reduces the frictional resistance of the aircraft,” said Ashwin Bhat, CEO of Lufthansa Cargo.

“Together with the lightweight cargo equipment we already use today, this technology will enable us to save 5,493 tons of kerosene per year.

“This is an important step on our way to becoming 100 percent CO2-neutral in the air by 2050.

By 2027, all 777 Freighters will be coated with AeroSHARK and the entire 777 fleet will be integrated into Lufthansa Cargo’s global network of scheduled services.