EVA Air adopts fuel-saving AeroSHARK film for Boeing 777F fleet

Lufthansa Group carriers have flown fuel-saving AeroSHARK surface technology on a variety of jets for the last few years, with some 17 aircraft in the Group fleet already fitted, including all 12 of Swiss International Airlines’ Boeing 777-300ERs. This winter, four Boeing 777-200ERs operated by Austrian Airlines will be equipped.

But the eco-friendly, sharkskin-like film is also attracting non-Group members, the latest being EVA Air, which has become the first Asian operator to sign for the AeroSHARK modification developed by Lufthansa Technik and BASF.

Under a deal announced today, Taipei-based EVA Air will fit its entire cargo fleet of nine Boeing 777F long-range freighters with AeroSHARK, covering the aircraft’s fuselage and engines. An initial 777F twinjet, B-16786, has already undergone modification at the airline’s home base and will re-enter commercial service in early September.

Guided by Lufthansa Technik, the AeroSHARK modification was executed by EVA Air’s affiliate, Evergreen Aviation Technologies Corp. (EGAT). The carrier’s 777F fleet is expected to be fitted by 2027. Financial terms of the arrangement have not been disclosed.

“EVA Air is continually progressing towards its goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, constantly seeking the latest technologies to reduce our carbon footprint,” says EVA Air executive vice president corporate planning division Albert Liao.

“We are delighted to collaborate with Lufthansa Technik in applying the fuel-saving AeroSHARK surface technology to our 777F freighters. This innovation not only reduces fuel consumption but also lowers CO2 emissions. EVA Air will continuously monitor the actual fuel-saving benefits and further evaluate additional aircraft to be equipped with this technology.”

An adhesive film that is modeled on the drag-reducing structure of sharkskin, AeroSHARK film has millions of prism-shaped, barely perceptible riblets, each one 50 micrometers high. It is sized in patches for easy and targeted application.

The application is entirely manual; trained technicians trim each patch and install it in accordance with a plan based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and the aircraft’s geometry and structure.

“If several hundred square meters of the fuselage and engine nacelles are covered with this, the frictional resistance of the aircraft is reduced so significantly that fuel consumption and the resulting emissions are reduced by around one percent,” says Lufthansa Technik in a statement.

“Extrapolated to EVA Air’s nine 777F aircraft, this equates to annual savings of more than 2,500 metric tons of kerosene and more than 7,800 metric tons of CO2 emissions.”

Lufthansa Technik’s development priorities include gaining approvals for additional aircraft types and for ever larger surface areas. “In initial model calculations, the sharkskin technology could even avoid CO2 emissions of up to three percent in its maximum expansion stage,” it says.