Today Southwest operates its first revenue flight utilizing a Boeing 737-800 equipped with Aviation Partner’s Boeing Split Scimitar Winglets.
These new Winglets offer reduced fuel consumption and emissions. In fact, we estimate an increase in our annual fuel savings of approximately 3.5 percent per aircraft from blended winglets to approximately 5-5.5 percent per aircraft annually with the Split Scimitar Winglets. With the new winglets, the -800’s wingspan will increase about five inches and the winglet tip drops approximately three feet below the wing.
In January, we announced our order of 85 Split Scimitar Winglets allowing us to retrofit the 52 -800s currently in our fleet in addition to the 33 -800s scheduled for delivery this year. The Split Scimitar Winglet project has been more than a year in the making and I would like to thank everyone who was involved for their outstanding Leadership and coordination.
Be on the lookout for the new split Winglets flying high and sporting our famous Southwest.com logo.