Tamarack Aerospace (Booth N936) is increasing its Cessna Citation offerings, adding the 560XL series to its list of Atlas active winglets applications, the company announced October 10. It is undertaking a certification program to install the winglets on the Excel, XLS and XLS+, and additionally has formed a partnership with Innova Aerospace to offer the winglets as part of the “myC560” Citation Ultra and Encore upgrade program. The supplemental type certificate program on the series is estimated to take about two years.

The 560XL series expands a portfolio for the winglets that already includes the Cessna Citation CJ, CJ1, CJ1+ and M2 business jets. In addition, approvals for the CJ3/CJ3+ are expected to follow in late first quarter 2018 and for the CJ2/CJ2+ a few months after that.

“Now that we are closing in on certification of Atalas on the CJ2 and CJ3, we are excited to announce that our next program will bring the same performance benefits to the 560XL series.” said Nick Guida, founder and CEO of Tamarack Aerospace. The winglets will provide the ability to fly to FL450 directly, providing the potential of yielding 16 percent or greater range on the aircraft.

“These are amazing aircraft but operators know that they can rarely get to FL450 directly, which is where the efficiency is to be gained,” Guida noted. “Each thousand feet of altitude above FL410 will net a 4.2 percent specific range increase.”

“Our Atlas-equipped CJ3 is already flying 2,100-nm missions at FL450, so active winglets on the 560XL series will frequently enable transcontinental flights,” added Justin Ryan, Tamarack Aerospace president. Ryan also pointed to other benefits of the winglets, including stability, fuel economy, increased maximum zero fuel weight, improved hot/high performance and value retention.

The Atlas winglets use a built-in load alleviation device called Tacs (Tamarack Active Camber Surface), along with a wing extension and winglet to improve aerodynamics without the need for structural reinforcement. For the CJ/CJ1, the winglets can provide a 20 percent improvement in fuel burn and range, according to the company.

“It’s proven on the CJs,” added Paul Hathaway, vice president of marketing. He also pointed to a CJ3 trip completed last year between Paris, Texas and Paris, France, with one stop. During that trip, Gander Control asked three times if the aircraft could make FL450 before the entry point of the high-altitude track, Hathaway noted. “Even the flight-planning agency didn’t believe us.”

Along with the 560XL series, there is “no shortage of opportunities” for the winglet technology, Hathaway said. The company has received interest from Citation Mustang owners, Embraer Phenom owners and some of the manufacturers of larger aircraft. The ultimate goal, he said, is to “march up the food chain toward bigger airplanes.”

Besides adding applications, Tamarack Aerospace Group has expanded the sales force with the naming of jetAviva as an authorized representative. Announced during the Citation Jet Pilots 2017 Annual Convention last week in Phoenix, jetAviva joins the Textron Aviation service center network in selling and marketing the active winglets.

Austin, Texas-based jetAviva is one of the largest business aviation brokerages, with more than 2,000 clients in 40 countries. In August, the company enhanced its expertise in the Cessna Citation market with the acquisition of Jet Quest.

Tamarack executives note the strong background that jetAviva as with the Citation product line and customer base. “This is a natural fit for our customers,” said Guida. “JetAviva has always understood the performance, visual and value enhancements that Tamarack Active Winglets add to a jet.”