Swiss will adopt a sharkskin-inspired, ribbed airframe surface film for its Boeing 777 fleet that Lufthansa Technik jointly developed with German chemicals manufacturer BASF in a bid to reduce fuel consumption. LHT says that Swiss – a wholly owned Lufthansa subsidiary – will gradually apply the surface film dubbed AeroShark to its 12-strong 777-300ER fleet during “suitable maintenance layovers”, starting in mid-2022. The MRO provider adds that the covered surface on Swiss’s aircraft will be around 19% larger – 950m² rather than 800m² – than on Lufthansa Cargo’s 777F fleet, which was revealed as the technology’s launch customer in 2021. While the 777-300ER is longer than the 777-200LR-based purpose-built freighter, Swiss says that the surface film on its fleet will be applied to airframe areas and engine nacelles. LHT had trialled the technology on lower fuselage areas – below the passenger windows – on a Lufthansa 747-400. An application concept was subsequently developed for 777 Freighters that additionally included limited wing areas, left and right of the twinjet’s engine positions, and higher fuselage areas due to the absence of passenger windows. LHT predicts that the technology will reduce consumption 1.1% on Swiss’s 777 fleet. The MRO provider’s outgoing chief executive, Johannes Bussmann, states: “Due to the long lifecycles in our industry, we cannot only rely on new aircraft generations to reduce our environmental footprint, but also need to specifically optimise existing fleets towards sustainability.” LHT says it is still in the process of obtaining a supplemental type certificate for the surface film and that a Swiss 777 will be used for the approval effort with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency. The MRO provider notes that one of the Alpine carrier’s 777s was used to monitor the aircraft’s wing during a regular flight from Zurich to San Francisco, to create “highly accurate 3D models for flow simulations”. Other 777 operators within Lufthansa Group include Austrian Airlines and cargo carrier AeroLogic, which is jointly owned by the German airline and Deutsche Post subsidiary DHL Express.

Blue Air has been prosecuted and fined for six offences under Covid enforcement regulations. The airline was fined £40,000 ($54,221) after it pleaded guilty to the offences during a hearing at Uxbridge Magistrates' court today, the UK Civil Aviation Authority says. Five of the offences concern Blue Air failing to ensure that passengers arriving at Heathrow had completed the required passenger locator form, the regulator says. The Romanian airline also failed to ensure that an arriving passenger had the required evidence showing completion of a pre-departure Covid test. It also received fixed penalty notices for the breaches of Covid-19 requirements before it was prosecuted by the UK Civil Aviation Authority, which they did not pay or seek to resolve, the regulator says. This is the first prosecution of an airline under the Covid enforcement regulations, the regulator adds.

Latvia-based Air Baltic has temporarily suspended overnight flights to and from Ukraine until the end of February as geopolitical situation in the country worsens. As a result of the suspension, the flag carrier says it has cancelled five overnight rotations between Kiev and Riga as well as two rotations between Odessa and Riga. Air Baltic plans to continue to provide flights from Kiev to both Riga and Vilnius. The airline notes that it is evaluating the current situation before each flight and following the recommendations issued by official authorities. Air Baltic says it is flexible and ready to adjust its flight schedule if necessary. Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin escalated tensions on 21 February by recognising the independence of separatist Donetsk and Luhansk, located in Ukraine’s east, and by ordering Russian troops into those regions.