United Airlines is first to install Split Scimitar Winglets

A United Airlines Boeing 737-800 aircraft retrofitted with the new Split Scimitar Winglet took its maiden test flight on July 16th, in Everett, Wash. This advanced winglet improves on the existing blended winglets United currently has on its next generation 737 fleet. In January, United served as the launch customer for this innovative winglet when it made a firm commitment with Aviation Partners Boeing (APB) to retrofit its 737-800 fleet. In June, United announced its commitment to also retrofit its 737-900ER fleet. Using a newly patented design, the program consists of retrofitting United’s Boeing Next Generation 737 Blended Winglets by replacing the aluminum winglet tip cap with a new aerodynamically shaped “Scimitar” winglet tip cap and by adding a new Scimitar-tipped ventral strake.