Alaska Airlines retrofitting 737 fleet with new, split winglet

By BA Staff

Scimitar split winglets. Photo courtesy Alaska Airlines.

Alaska Airline's Boeing 737s will soon fly the more efficient performance-enhancing split Scimitar winglets, which will reduce fuel consumption by 58,000 gallons a year per aircraft saving the airline $20 million and cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 57,000 tons annually, equivalent to about 11,900 passenger vehicles. The new winglet from Aviation Partners Boeing is called 'Scimitar' due to its resemblance to the mediaeval sword.

Mark Eliasen, Alaska Airlines' vice president of finance and treasurer said:

"Reducing fuel consumption has been a top priority at Alaska Airlines for years. Thanks to the hard work and dedication of our employees, we've cut our carbon emissions by 30 percent per passenger mile since 2004. Investing in split winglets will further reduce our fuel use and continue our efforts to be the industry leader in environmental stewardship."

Among other efforts to lower fuel consumption, Alaska installed lighter inflight food and beverage carts, and instituted procedures such as taxiing on one engine instead of two, a procedure already common amongst carriers in India.

The International Council on Clean Transportation , a non-profit research organization ranked Alaska the highest in fuel efficiency among all 15 major U.S. airlines in a report it released in September.

Winglets save fuel by reducing drag, which allows aircraft to fly at cruise speed with less engine power. Alaska Airlines will recoup the capital cost of installing the new winglets through fuel savings in about two years.

Designed by Seattle-based Aviation Partners Boeing, the first winglet will be installed early next year and the project will be completed by 2017. Alaska plans to install the winglets on 111 aircraft, including most of its 737-800s, -900s and all of its -900ERs. Installation will be scheduled on each aircraft during routine maintenance inspections.

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Video: AirAsia to be first operator of Airbus A320 fitted with 'Sharklets' wing-tips

Malaysian low cost carrier AirAsia, the world’s largest customer for the Airbus A320, will become the first operator ‘Sharklets’ fitted A320s when they take delivery of the first A320 equipped with these fuel-saving wing-tip devices at the end of this year.

The carrier has ordered a total of 375 single aisle aircraft, comprising 200 A320neo and 175 A320ceo, of which 103 have been delivered to date.

The first Indian carrier to operate the 'Sharklet' A320 remains a toss-up between IndiGo and GoAir, though the latter is thought to have the edge.

See a video of the ceremony below.

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Images: Boeing introduces new dual tip winglets. A throwback to the MD-11?

US airframer Boeing unveiled a new dual winglet design concept for the 737 MAX.



The new Advanced Technology winglet is expected to provide an additional 1.5% fuel-burn improvement, on top of the 10-12 percent improvement already offered on the new-engine variant. Compared to today’s wingtip technology, which provides up to a 4 percent fuel-burn advantage at long ranges, the Advanced Technology winglet provides a total fuel-burn improvement of up to 5.5 percent on the same long routes.



In a way the new winglet design reminds one of the venerable McDonnell Douglas MD-11 which is now owned by Boeing.

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Airbus to introduce "Sharklets" on the Air New Zealand A320s in end 2012

Airbus has launched its version of the large wingtip devices called “Sharklet” for the A320 family. These devices are very similar looking to the AVP winglets found on the Boeing 737NG family.

Airbus A320 "Sharklets" with CFM engines

Offered as a forward-fit option, Sharklets are specially designed to enhance the eco-efficiency and payload-range performance of the A320 Family of aircraft and are expected to result in at least an additional 3.5% reduction in fuelburn over the classic wingtip fence already fitted on A320s, over longer sectors, saving an estimated 700 tonnes CO2 emissions per aircraft per year.

Air New Zealand is the launch customer for the Sharklets with their A320s to be the first model fitted, which will be delivered around the end of 2012. Other models of the A320 family will be followed from 2013.

Air New Zealand "Sharklets" with IAE engines

Payload-range benefits include either a revenue payload increase of around 500kg or an additional 100nm range at the original payload.

The Sharklet installation keeps the A320 Family within the ICAO ‘Class C’ (wingspan less than 36m) and will result in higher available take-off weights, especially from obstacle-limited runways. Where runway performance is not limited, operators will benefit from reduced engine wear and maintenance due to a reduction in average take-off thrust. Lower take-off noise, enhanced climb performance and higher initial cruise altitude are some of the other benefits of the new "Sharklets".

Airbus has conducted an extensive campaign over several years to evaluate improved large aerodynamic devices using Airbus’ company-owned A320 test aircraft and its advanced computational-fluid-dynamics (CFD) simulation-tools.

The next evolution of wingtips -- morphlets.

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Airbus and Boeing moving from Winglets to Morphlets

Wired has a nice story on the constant efforts by both Airbus and Boeing to increase fuel savings by their aircraft.

The latest technology which appears promising is "moving winglets" or "morphlets" whose configuration can be changed in-flight to suit flying conditions to deliver fuel savings. The two airframe makers are taking different approaches to the same goal.

Read the full story here.

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