Boeing 767 Flies with Blended Winglets

Blended winglets have made their first flight on a Boeing 767-300ER, when this aircraft made a ferry lfight from Kansas City, Mo. to San Bernardino, Calif. to undergo certification and winglet-performance trials. Credit: Aviation Partners Boeing

The blended winglets that have become a common feature on Boeing 737s and 757s have made their first flight on a Boeing 767.

An American Airlines 767-300ER equipped with the Aviation Partners Boeing blended winglets took off at 1:50 p.m. central time Sunday July 20th. The newly modified aircraft flew a ferry flight from Kansas City, Mo. to San Bernardino, Calif., where it will undergo two months of certification and winglet-performance flight testing.

American Airlines employees installed the blended winglets, together with necessary wing and aircraft systems modifications, at American's Kansas City maintenance base.

The 11-foot-tall (3.4-meter) blended winglets are manufactured for Aviation Partners Boeing by GKN Aerospace on the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom. The wing modification kit was manufactured by a team comprising LMI Aerospace, Contour Aerospace, and Honeywell Consumable Solutions.

Aviation Partners Boeing and American Airlines expect FAA and EASA certification of blended winglets for the 767-300ER in November, with equipped aircraft beginning revenue service in December.

"The 767-300ER blended winglet program launch has been our most successful to date," said John Reimers, Aviation Partners Boeing's president and CEO,. "We are four months away from expected certification and already have firm commitments for over 130 systems from 10 different airlines. As a result, we are currently sold out of 767-300ER blended winglet systems through November of 2009."

Aviation Partners Boeing estimates that the blended winglets designed for the 767-300ER will save up to 6.5 percent on fuel consumption, by reducing the drag created by wingtip vortices. This would produce savings of more than 500,000 gallons of jet fuel per aircraft per year for operators with the longest average sector lengths and highest aircraft utilization rates.

"A 767 burning half a million gallons of jet fuel translates into an annual reduction of over 5,000 tons of CO2 per aircraft," noted Joe Clark, Aviation Partners Boeing's founder and chairman.

The company claims its blended winglets also create significant operational flexibility for airlines by increasing the payload and/or range of equipped aircraft, reducing engine maintenance costs, and dramatically improving takeoff capability from difficult airports, such as those with short runways or airports situated in hot-and-high locations.

More than 2,480 Boeing aircraft have now been equipped with blended winglets. They have already been certified for the Boeing 737 BBJ, 737-800, 737-700, 737-300, 757-200, 737-500, and 737-900. Additionally, they are in the process of being certified for the Boeing 767-300ER (both passenger and freighter variants) and the 757-300.

Aviation Partners Boeing also hopes to launch a 777-200ER blended-winglets certification program later this year, with certification anticipated by December 2010.

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