Lufthansa Cargo: Boeing 777F as the first liner freighter with shark skin

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This morning, the world's first cargo plane with Aeroshark surface technology began scheduled service in Frankfurt.

After Swiss has been transporting passengers with the first Boeing 777-300 ER modified in this way since October, Lufthansa Cargo is making its debut in air freight with the first Boeing 777 F. At around 05:00 a.m., the aircraft registered D-ALFA, flight number LH8410, took off on its maiden flight from Frankfurt to Bengaluru in India, from where it will then continue to Chengdu in China. The Aeroshark modification was carried out in mid-January as part of a scheduled maintenance layover for the Lufthansa Cargo freighter and was completed well before its end. Now that the maintenance has also been completed, the aircraft returned to active service.

Aeroshark is a surface film modeled on the microscopic structure of shark skin. It consists of ribs, the so-called riblets, which are around 50 micrometres in size. If the flow pattern on the fuselage and engine nacelles of the Boeing 777 F is optimized in this way, fuel can be saved. Gradually, the modification is to be used on Lufthansa Cargo's entire 777 freighter fleet in order to make these eleven aircraft more economical and lower in emissions. Swiss is also having its entire sub-fleet of twelve Boeing 777-300 ERs modified with Aeroshark. The second and third aircraft there have already received the modification and should soon be back in scheduled service. Aeroshark was developed jointly by Lufthansa Technik and the chemical company BASF.

Wrapping the first Lufthansa Cargo B777F with Sharkskin film in Frankfurt (Photo: Lufthansa Technik).
Wrapping the first Lufthansa Cargo B777F with Sharkskin film in Frankfurt (Photo: Lufthansa Technik).
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