Seattle, Washington-based Aviation Partners Boeing is racking up sales of its efficiency-enhancing Blended Winglets, with new orders from Air China and Shenzhen Airlines for a total of 50 shipsets and from Austrian Airlines for six 767-300ER, the first such application in Europe.

Each of the Chinese airlines will have the winglets installed on new 737-800 aircraft for delivery from October this year and February next. All 50 are due to be delivered by 2010, bringing the number of winglet-equipped 737 NGs in China to 240.
The devices offer substantial environmental benefits. APB said equipping the 25 aircraft will reduce Air China’s annual fuel consumption by 5,120 tons, leading to reductions of 16,200 tons in carbon dioxide emissions and 45 tons of nitrous oxide.

Shenzhen Airlines introduced two winglet-equipped aircraft earlier this year. The business case that has made the devices part of the standard configuration for new Boeing aircraft delivered to China includes takeoff weight improvements, payload-range increases, environmental benefits and higher engine-out altitudes, which is particularly significant over mountainous terrain.

More than 1,750 aircraft with Blended Winglets are currently in service with more than 100 airlines in 40-plus countries. By 2010, when more than 4,500 aircraft are due to have the enhancement, the winglets will have saved commercial airlines more than two billion gallons of fuel, APB estimates.