LATAM Airlines Group has invested in innovative technologyía, inspired in shark skinón, that throughés of millions of scales, allows to reduce frictionón of the fuselage and soí fuel consumption.
This technologyíit is already using Lufthansa a whoosh Boeing 777 freighters from the 2021 and its results have been positive, which has led to meás aerolíare interested in using it.
AeroSHARK it's called technologyía, developed by Lufthansa technology and BASF, what to beá installed on some airplanes Boeing 777 of the group LATAM and thanks to its millions of scales, to allowá reduce fuel consumption by approximately 1% and reduce emissionsón of 6 thousand tons of CO2 per yearñO, once it is installed on the designated aircraft.
LATAM useá «shark skinón»
in december 2023, LATAM had its first Boeing 777-300ER equipped with the bi surface coatingónica from Lufthansa Technik en São Paulo. Since then, the airíLatin American line has been testing the technologyíinspired by shark skinón in daily operations. Given the good results, the group LATAM has decided to install this innovative technologyía in four planes más.
“Our modernization strategyóFleet management is a cornerstone of our commitment to sustainability and our vision.ón to achieve net zero emissions to 2050. We remain focused on innovationón y la adoptedóno. of technologyíthe avant-garde, ensuring our fleet evolvesíin line with our environmental objectives”, Sebastian said.án Acuto, Director of Fleet and Projects at LATAM Airlines Group.
This innovationón reflects the investmentócontinuous development of the LATAM group in new technologiesías, one of his four ákey areas to advance decarbonizationón of aviationón. The other three áareas are: increased operational efficiency, compensate usón of emissions and adoptionón also SAF (Aviaci Sustainable Fuelón).
How AeroSHARK works
AeroSHARK is a special layer that mimics the flow-optimized structure of sharkskin.ón. Jointly developed by BASF and Lufthansa Technik, has technologyía biométhree that measure approximately 50 micrómeters. When several hundred square meters of this coating are applied to the fuselage and engine nacelles, resistance is reduced, which leads to a decreaseón on fuel consumption and CO emissions₂ by about one percent. For the group's Boeing 777-300ER fleet LATAM, This translates into an expected annual savings of about 2.000 tons mékerosene burners and a reductionóapproximate n of 6.000 tons of CO emissions₂ once it isén all aircraft with the technologyía, which is approximately equivalent to 28 scheduled flights from Sãor Paulo to Miami in a Boeing 777.
“I decided itón of the LATAM group confirms once máI know AeroSHARK works. This motivates us to continue using our engineering skills.ía and innovative force to contribute to an aviationón with lower CO emissions₂” said Robin Johansson, Senior Director Sales Latin America and Caribbean at Lufthansa Technik. “We look forward to collaborating with más clients worldwide and apply our technologyíshark skinón that saves fuel in aún más airplanes.”
La prómodificationón of a grandfatherón to LATAM Eastá scheduled for November this toñO.
