14 DAY TRIAL // Officials with the Boeing Company announce the development of a new winglet design concept, to benefit the 737 MAX aircraft. Engineers with the corporation believe that outfitting this aircraft with the improved winglets could result in fuel savings of up to 1.5 percent.
This is excellent news for the 1,000 customers from 16 nations who have already ordered the aircraft. The engines aboard the airplane already prove a 10-to-12 percent improvement in fuel burn efficiency, depending on range and variant.
Wingtip technologies in use today provide 4 percent fuel efficiency, whereas the new winglets may bring up to 5.5 percent improvement. When delivered to customers, starting in 2017, the 73 MAX will “gain an 18 percent fuel-burn per-seat improvement over today's [Airbus] A320.”
“The concept is more efficient than any other wingtip device in the single-aisle market because the effective wing span increase is uniquely balanced between the upper and lower parts of the winglet,” explains 737 MAX Chief Project Engineer, Michael Teal.