Last Updated on June 19, 2025 by Team Ideas24
Hold on to your boarding passes — shark skin might soon be helping your next flight save fuel and reduce emissions.
Delta Air Lines is testing a high-tech, shark-inspired coating on its aircraft that could cut fuel consumption by up to 4%. This isn’t sci-fi — it’s biomimicry in action.
The product, called AeroSHARK, mimics the unique texture of shark skin, which reduces drag and allows sharks to glide smoothly through water. When applied to planes, it creates a similar aerodynamic effect, helping jets slip more efficiently through the sky.
The science is sleek: tiny riblets in the coating disrupt turbulent airflow along the fuselage, reducing aerodynamic drag without any mechanical changes to the plane.
Delta is applying AeroSHARK to over 20 Boeing 737-800s in collaboration with Lufthansa Technik and BASF, who co-developed the coating. Each application could save Delta more than 650,000 gallons of fuel and slash 6,500 tons of CO₂ emissions annually — per plane!
Dr. Johannes Bussmann, CEO of Lufthansa Technik, says, “Nature is the best engineer. Sharks have perfected efficient movement through water for millions of years — now we’re applying that wisdom to air travel.”
The aviation industry is responsible for around 2-3% of global carbon emissions, and finding scalable, cost-effective ways to reduce fuel use is a major goal.
Unlike building an entirely new fleet of green aircraft, this retrofittable coating can make existing planes more eco-friendly with relatively little investment and downtime.
Here’s a video you might want to watch:
It’s one small ribbed patch for sharks, one giant leap for sustainable aviation. Curious to see how sharks are inspiring greener skies? Check out the full article on Good News Network for more.
