Swiss International will equip its entire 777-300ER fleet with new fuel-saving technology

Swiss International Boeing 777-300ER

Swiss International Airlines has decided to equip its entire Boeing long-haul fleet with the fuel-saving AeroSHARK surface technology.

Starting in the middle of the year, a total of 12 Boeing 777-300ERs will gradually be fitted with the riblet films developed jointly by Lufthansa Technik and the German chemical company BASF.

The airline aims to reach a significantly reduced frictional resistance resulting from this modification and make its 777 fleet 1% more fuel-efficient and lower in emissions.

Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) is the first passenger airline worldwide to use the innovative surface technology to significantly reduce fuel consumption and emissions of one of its existing fleets, thereby improving both economy and ecology.

With approximately 950 square meters of riblet film, the modification of the “long” Boeing 777-300ER will be even larger than the 800 square meters on the Boeing 777F of AeroSHARK’s launch customer Lufthansa Cargo. The potential for fuel and CO2 savings on this scale is around 1.1%.

Converted to the operational profile of the Boeing 777-300ER at SWISS, this means annual savings of more than 4,800 tons of kerosene and roughly 15,200 tons of carbon dioxide, as much as is usually generated on approximately 87 long-haul flights from Zurich to Mumbai.