With the price of the barrel of oil climbing close to 150 USD, American Airlines is busy installing winglets on its first Boeing 767-300ER aircraft. The winglets are provided by Aviation Partners Boeing, a company supplying winglets to Boeing commercial aircraft. The winglets on the Boeing 767-300ER will yield a saving of up to 6% in fuel consumption, close to 300000 US gallons of fuel per aircraft per year will be saved. The winglets on the 767 measure 11 feet high.
The purpose of installing winglets on the aircraft is to reduce fuel consumption, noise and CO2 emissions, it only slightly reduces fuel consumption in one flight but in the long run it can bring significant savings to the fuel consumption of each aircraft. The winglets slightly increase the lift coefficient of the aircraft.
All 58 767-300ER's flown mostly on intercontinental flights will receive winglets within the next two years, but the 200ER's probably won't receive them. The 757's also have winglets installed on the wingtips, although not all aircraft in the fleet have. American, hit by the downturn of the global economy, the events of 9-11 and the soaring fuel prices, has been taking drastic measures to reduce costs and fuel consumption, and it has no plans to merge with another carrier.
Aviation Partners Boeing supplies winglets for the following Boeing models: NG737-700/800/300ER Series, 757-200/300 and now the 767-300ER. The 767-400ER isn't designed to be fit with winglets, neither is the 777-300ER, because those have raked wingtips, an alternate solution to the winglets for fuel consumption. A few airlines also equip older 737-300's with winglets, I know Brussels Airlines does, but it is mostly the younger 700 and 800 Series that have them. Other major airline customers to fit their Boeing aircraft with winglets supplied by Aviation Partners besides American include Continental, Delta, Southwest, KLM, Ryanair and South African Airways.
