American Airlines and Aviation Partners Boeing (APB) announced the first revenue flight of a Boeing 767-300ER with APB’s Blended Winglets. The increased lift provided by the winglets, without a corresponding increase of engine power, improves fuel efficiency. Each airplane equipped with the winglets is expected to save up to 500,000 gallons of fuel annually depending on miles flown, according to APB. American plans to install winglets on its entire 58 aircraft fleet of 767-300ERs, which could result in a total savings of up to 29 million gallons of fuel per year. That represents a significant potential increase to the 111 million gallons of fuel that American currently saves through its Fuel Smart efficiency program.
In addition to the fuel cost savings, this 767-300ER fuel efficiency improvement will result in a reduction of up to 277,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions annually, according to APB. The 11-foot high winglets could also extend the range of an aircraft by as much as 360 nautical miles and improve take-off performance, providing as much as 12,000 pounds of additional payload.
