A United Airlines Boeing 737-800 aircraft retrofitted with new Split Scimitar Winglets has taken flight, promising to cut fuel consumption up to two per cent, according to Shipping Gazette.
This came hard on the heels another press release from Korean Air with news of the delivery of the 1,000th 'Shark let' wing tip to Airbus, promising to cut fuel burn 3.5 per cent.
The Korean Air fuel-saving wing tip is called the "Shark let", designed and accredited solely by Korean Air. It is an L-shaped structure attached at the end of the wings of the A320 series, cutting down drag and fuel burn.
The United aircraft flew from Houston to Los Angeles with its new winglets made by Aviation Partners Boeing (APB), and approved earlier this month by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The United winglet design demonstrates significant aircraft drag reduction over the basic blended winglet configuration used on its current fleet, said the airlines' press release.
Using the new design, it said, the programme retrofits 737-800 blended winglets by replacing the aluminum tip cap with a new aerodynamically shaped "Scimitar" winglet tip cap and by adding a new Scimitar-tipped ventral strake.
United has 350 aircraft fitted with advanced blended winglets. Once they are installed on all the 737s, 757s and 767s, they are expected to save US$200 million a year in jet fuel costs.
Korean Air said its "Sharklet" version demonstrates the company's manufacturing ability by producing 1,000 units in 22 months. Korean Air plans to achieve a US$400 million in sales by 2017.
In November 2009 Airbus announced that there would be international bidding for a A320 performance enhancement project and Korean Air won against 20 rivals.
"Korean Air was selected by Airbus as the sole supplier of the new Airbus-designed 'Sharklet' wingtip devices for the A320 Family in May 2010," said the Korean Air press release.
"Built using lightweight composite materials, the 2.4-metre tall 'Sharklet' is light and durable. 'Sharklets' help reduce the spiral-shaped vortices formed at the aircraft's wingtips during flight allowing aircraft to cut fuel burn by at least 3.5 percent," it said.
-
Company DirectoryFreight RateExport RateAgency PartnershipCargo Leads