All AA 737-800, will soon have winglets.....
American Airlines Orders 76 Additional Aviation Partners Boeing 737-800 Blended Winglet Systems
Wednesday March 29, 6:27 pm ET
SEATTLE, March 29 /PRNewswire/ -- American Airlines, which currently operates 5 Aviation Partners Blended Winglet equipped Boeing 757-200s (of 20 on order) and a single 737-800, has decided to retrofit its entire fleet of 737-800s with patented* Blended Winglets between May 2006 and September 2007.
All Blended Winglet installations will be accomplished by American Airlines employees at their maintenance facility in Tulsa, OK.
As part of American's initial order last September of 20 shipsets of 757-200 Blended Winglets, a single 737-800 was also retrofitted. Over the last 6 months, the performance of this winglet equipped 737-800 has been subject to evaluation by American Airlines.
"The Winglet has performed to our expectations on both the 757-200 and the 737-800," says American Airlines Senior Vice President of Technical Operations Bob Reding. "Given the results of our evaluation and today's high fuel prices, we will retrofit the remainder of our 737-800 fleet.
We have an excellent and highly experienced work force at our maintenance facilities to do the job. Our B-757 Winglet installation turn time has been reduced to 14 days from the industry average of 21 days."
Blended Winglets significantly reduce fuel burn, increase payload/range capability, dramatically improve take-off performance from high, hot, and/or obstacle limited airfields, reduce hourly engine maintenance costs, and benefit the environment by lowering both engine emissions and aircraft noise levels.
"This significant commitment to Blended Winglet Technology from American Airlines is another important endorsement of the productivity and value of our technology," says Aviation Partners Boeing Vice President of Sales Patrick LaMoria. "Amidst the many challenges the industry faces today, Blended Winglets have become a rare case of perfect marketing: having the right product, at the right time, at a price offering a return on investment impossible to ignore."
Over the past 5 years, Aviation Partners Boeing, a joint venture between Seattle-based Aviation Partners Inc. and The Boeing Company, has sold over 2,000 shipsets of Blended Winglets. Today, over 950 winglet equipped aircraft are in-service, over half of the world fleet of Boeing 737-700s/800s are taking advantage of the benefits of Blended Winglets, and over 85% of all new 737-700s/800s enter revenue service already equipped with this Performance Enhancing Technology.
