A crane with "shark skin"
Lufthansa Cargo's D-Alfa, the world's first freighter to be equipped with "Aeroshark", took off for the first time on 3 February 2023, connecting Frankfurt with Bengaluru (India), from where it flew on to Chengdu (China).
The innovative surface film that mimics the microscopic structure of shark skin was developed by Lufthansa Technik and BASF and makes aircraft more fuel-efficient and reduces emissions, helping airlines to achieve sustainability goals.
For the modified Triple Seven, Lufthansa Technik expects fuel savings of slightly more than 1%. Extrapolated to Lufthansa Cargo's entire widebody fleet of currently 16 B777F (+ two A321F), this will result in annual savings of over 4,000 t of kerosene and nearly 13,000 t of CO2 emissions, equivalent to about 53 individual cargo flights from Frankfurt to Shanghai. (ah)