TRADE-FRIENDLY BUDGET CARRIER EASYJET is to coat its aircraft with an ultra-light paint in a bid to drive down its CO2 emissions.
The airline said the nano-technology paint - developed by British company Triple0 - would make a plane's performance much slicker.
The manufacturers estimated that it could reduce Easyjet's fuel consumption by as much as 2 per cent.
Triple0 managing director, Paul Booker, said: "Laboratory testing demonstrates a reduction in drag of up to 39 per cent, which correlates with a direct fuel saving and overall reduction in carbon footprint."
The coating has been used by the US military as a "surface protectant" for 20 years, but has only recently been made commercially available, said Booker.
Easyjet is trialling the coating on eight aircraft to compare fuel consumption with the rest of the fleet over a 12-month period.
Easyjet chief executive Carolyn McCall said the airline would pass on reduced fuel costs to passengers: "If we can find new ways of reducing the amount of fuel used by our aircraft, we can pass the benefits onto our passengers by offering them low fares and a lower carbon footprint."