American Airlines targets massive fuel savings

American Airlines is teaming up with Aviation Partner Boeing (APB) in a bid to save more than 42 million gallons of airline fuel each year with special aircraft winglets.

The world's largest carrier will begin trialing Blended Winglets on its Boeing 767-300ER fleet from January next year, and expects to shave four to five percent off its annual fuel consumption as a result.

Honored this week for its contribution to the field of engineering by Overhaul & Maintenance magazine, American expects to extend the range of its jets by up to 360 nautical miles, improve efficiency, enhance take-off performance, and make space for additional cargo.

"We will conserve 17 to 21 million gallons in fuel annually for the B767-300ER fleet," stated Bob Reding, Senior Vice-President of Technical Operations at American.

"Once we install winglets on all of our current Boeing 737, Boeing 757, and the B767-300 fleet, we will be saving over 42 million gallons of fuel per year."

In addition to the potential cost savings, APB's winglets are expected to deliver environmental benefits. Reducing fuel burn, the technology could prevent 423,000 tonnes of CO2 entering the atmosphere each year.

Blended Winglets are said to guarantee annual fuel savings of at least 290,000 gallons of fuel per aircraft.

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