Virgin paint job to reduce drag, trim fuel expense

Virgin Australia’s ATR-72 fleet is getting a new coat of paint that promises less maintenance and more fuel savings.

Workers give one of Virgin Australia's ATR72 regional fleet a new coat of polymer from Permagard.

Virgin Australia’s fleet of ATR 72 aircraft is getting a new coat of paint that promises less maintenance and more fuel savings for the domestic carrier.

The airline has contracted Perma­gard Australia — the Australasian licensee of the France-based Permagard Global Paint and Gel Coat protection system — to apply the liquid polymer that has been designed to protect the exterior of the aircraft and cut down the frequency of repainting or washing planes.

The coating will be applied to the exteriors of Virgin’s 14 ATR 72 aircraft, which are used predominantly for regional routes throughout Australia.

The coating, which recently was applied to aircraft at Virgin’s Brisbane Engineering base in a job that will take several months to complete, promises to give the airline better fuel efficiency by “reducing parasitic drag”, according to Permagard Aviation general manager Warren Bertschinger.

“We performed fuel consumption trials on a number of Jetstar A320s a few years ago,” Mr Bertschinger said.

“The average fuel consumption reduction was a minimum of 0.4 per cent.”

The polymer coating seals the aircraft’s outer surfaces, creating a permanent protective barrier that means airlines can increase the interval between cleaning the planes’ exteriors.

“We dry-wash the aircraft on a 60-day schedule and the Permagard product is reapplied on a 12 to 18-month interval,” Mr Bertschinger said.

Permagard has held a contract to maintain the exteriors of Virgin’s fleet since 2007. The company also treats the airline’s fleet of Airbus A330s, and 737s as well as its Embraer E170 and E190 regional jets, which are up for sale.

Following completion of the ATR 72 aircraft, the company will manage the ongoing livery ­appearance of Virgin Australia’s entire national domestic fleet, presently at 120 aircraft.

The coating is applied after the surface of the paint is cleaned to remove dead paint and contaminants, and restore it to its original colour. A permanent “reactive” polymer coating is then applied to the fresh paint.

Once cured, it provides UV filtering and high resistance to water and corrosive substances to protect aircraft paint against fading and oxidation.