GKN Aerospace has delivered the first blended winglet for the Boeing 737-300/500, well ahead of scheduled delivery dates in the first quarter of this year.  The agreement, with Aviation Partners Boeing (APB) was finalised in April 2007. The multi-year winglet agreement with APB covers the supply of 200 737-300/500 blended winglet aircraft sets. Each of these winglets is 7′ long. The agreement also covers the design, development and manufacture of 300 sets of 11′ long winglets for the Boeing 767-300ER. These winglets will be produced at GKN Aerospace facility on the Isle of Wight, UK.  GKN Aerospace’s move into blended winglets is a key business development for the Company.

Winglets are transforming the performance of aircraft today.  By significantly reducing drag, blended winglets cut the aircraft’s fuel consumption by around 5% - improving performance and reducing environmental impact, both critical factors for the airline or aircraft operator.  And blended winglets can be ‘retrofitted’ to the huge number of aircraft already flying, as well as fitted to new airframes. 

Jeff Armitage, VP and Director Nacelles, GKN Aerospace, states:  "By 2010, just over two years from now, APB has predicted that blended winglets will have saved the world’s airlines over 2 billion gallons of fuel. For 737 300/500 operators, APB estimates savings of up to 100,000 gallons of fuel per aircraft per year. This is a key contract for GKN Aerospace here in Cowes and it is our aim to play a significant part in this hugely promising market in the coming years."

Aviation Partners Boeing CEO, John Reimers comments: "GKN Aerospace is one of the world’s top producers of aerospace composite structures and this agreement will allow us to significantly increase blended winglet production on our 737-300/500 programme.  We look forward to working with GKN Aerospace as the world airline industry continues its transition to Blended Winglet Technology."

Further informaiton
Aviation Partners Boeing is a joint venture between The Boeing Company and Aviation Partners Inc. of Seattle and is focused on retrofitting existing Boeing airplanes with winglet technology.  Currently in production are blended winglets for the Boeing 737-NG, Boeing Business Jet (BBJ), and the 757-200.

GKN Aerospace is the aerospace operation of GKN plc (LSE:GKN), one of the world’s largest engineering companies. GKN Aerospace serves a global customer base with some 7250 personnel operating in North and South America, Australia, the Asia Pacific and Europe and offering 24 hour ‘follow the sun’ engineering. With sales of $1.5bn, the business is focused around three major product areas - aerostructures, propulsion systems and transparencies, plus a number of specialist product areas - electro-thermal ice protection, fuel and flotation systems, and bullet resistant glass.  The business is equally split along military and civil lines with  participation on all major aircraft programmes today exceeding $1m per ship set.  GKN Aerospace is a major supplier of complex composite structures; offers one of the most comprehensive capabilities in high performance metallics processing and is the world leading supplier of cockpit transparencies and passenger cabin windows.

Source: GKN Aerospace                   
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