Airline Partners With MicroTau to Install ‘Shark Skin’ Riblets on Its B767s

In an effort to cut fuel consumption and improve sustainability, Delta Airlines has announced a partnership with MicroTau to install ‘shark skin’ riblets on its jets. The technology is currently being tested on the carrier’s 767 fleet under the Sustainable Skies Initiative.

MicroTau, an Australian aerospace technology company, manufactures a sharkskin-inspired Riblet Modification package that improves fuel efficiency by up to 4%. The product hopes to reduce emissions while the industry waits for sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) to mature and catch up with demand.

“Despite their smooth appearance, the skin of sharks is covered in a layer of microscopic grooves called dermal denticles, which help a shark swim more efficiently and expend less energy,” read a Delta statement. “Applying these microscopic grooves, often called riblets, to the exterior of an aircraft can reduce drag by smoothing air flow, which helps reduce fuel consumption.”

This collaboration is the latest addition to Delta’s Sustainable Skies Lab, which has existing partnerships with Airbus, Boeing, JetZero, Joby Aviation, and numerous other innovators. It provides a space for teams to research, develop, and test designs related to long-term sustainable air travel.

Though sharks may seem like an unusual source of inspiration, similar technology has been tested with several airlines in the last few years. Lufthansa, the flag carrier of Germany, began utilizing AeroSHARK’s bionic film back in 2022. This modification has accumulated upwards of 160,000 flight hours on Boeing 777F, 777-300ER, 777-200ER, and 747-400 jets from several carriers.

Airbus’s sustainability vision has a slightly more direct tie to aircraft, stemming from the typical flight pattern of migrating geese. It proposes a wake energy retrieval (WER) program that would allow one aircraft to take free lift from the air upwash of another, just like geese surf the updraft of the leading bird. This could reduce the necessary engine thrust and fuel consumption without making any actual modifications to the plane.

FMI: www.delta.com