An adaptive finite element algorithm to compute transonic viscous flows around a wing is presented. The adaptive criteria is based on an anisotropic error estimator in the 115 semi-norm, justified for an advection-diffusion problem with stabilized finite elements. The mesh aspect ratio can be arbitrarily large, upper and lower bounds can be proved, the involved constants being aspect ratio independent. Based on this error estimator, an anisotropic mesh adaptation algorithm is proposed to compute transonic viscous flows around a wing. The mesh is structured around the wing, while the remaining part of the mesh is adapted according to the anisotropic error estimator. This anisotropic adaptive algorithm allows shocks and the wake to be captured accurately, while keeping the number of vertices as low as possible. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.