By Skies Magazine | March 17, 2014 Estimated reading time 3 minutes, 34 seconds.
Air Canada rouge received its first Boeing 767-300ER equipped with Aviation Partners Boeing (APB) Blended Winglets on March 16, 2014. This is the third 767 delivered to rouge, drawn from the Air Canada mainline fleet. It arrived at Toronto Lester B. Pearson International Airport from Singapore where it was painted and equipped with the winglets. The aircraft has revised rouge titles that are a third larger than the previous two, and are centered over the windows, rather than below them. It will proceed to Mirabel, Que. for further outfitting before commencing operations on March 23. The first two operational rouge 767s are used on high traffic North American routes such as Toronto to Las Vegas. When the 2014 summer schedule commences, rouge will resume service to Edinburgh and Athens, and will add Venice, Dublin and Cancun. Air Canada has been evaluating the winglets for its 767 fleet since before they were certified in 2009, but this marks the first use of them by the airline.
The Blended Winglets equipping the Boeing 767-300ER were FAA certified and operationally introduced in March 2009 by American Airlines. Developed by APB, they follow the introduction of APB winglets on the Boeing 737-300 which were certified in May 2003, and introduced on new-build Boeing Business Jets. New 737 Next Generation aircraft in the 737-700, -800, and -900 series are now all delivered winglet equipped as standard. APB winglets were also added as a retrofit in the Boeing 757-200, certified in May 2005, followed by the 757-300 in July 2009. The 767-300ER winglets are 11 feet high, and represent the largest piece of structure ever retrofitted to a stock commercial aircraft.
The winglet technology reduces induced drag, which is inherently part of the airplane drag due to effects of generating lift. Wings produce air motion, called circulation, or vortices, as a result of generating lift. This motion is characterized by downward flow between the wingtips and upward flow outboard of the wingtips, thus the wing flies in a downdraft of its own making, creating drag. Winglets redirect the vortices, significantly reducing the drag. Winglets on the 767 reduce fuel consumption per airplane per year by up to 500,000 gallons (approximately 6.5 per cent), which also means a carbon dioxide emission reduction of up to 277,000 metric tons annually. This figure makes “blended winglets the greenest aftermarket product available to the aviation industry today” according to Joe Clark, founder and chairman of Aviation Partners Boeing. Using winglets also extends the airplane’s range by up to 360 nautical miles (666 kms) as well as increases the payload by up to 12,000 pounds (5450 kilograms) by enabling better take-off performance without any engine updates. Winglets also keep the aircraft very close to its original wingspan, and within existing airport gate limitations, which is not the case with other technologies such as raked wingtips. Other airlines that have incorporated the winglets on their 767 fleets to date include: Air New Zealand, American, Austrian, Condor, Delta, Hawaiian Airlines, Japan Airlines, LAN Chile, United Airlines, and UPS/United Parcel Service amongst others.
