Boeing new winglet on 737 MAXBoeing has unveiled a new winglet design concept for the re-engined 737 Max aircraft to give MAX customers a fuel-burn reduction of up to 1.5%.

Boeing Commercial Airplanes president and CEO Jim Albaugh said: "Incorporating this advanced technology into the 737 MAX design will give our customers even more advantage in today’s volatile fuel price environment."

The new technology is expected to provide a total fuel-burn enhancement of about 5.5% on long routes, when compared to the existing wingtip technology, which offers about a 4% fuel-burn advantage.

The US aircraft maker claims that the existing new-engine 737 NG models already offer a 10% to 12% fuel advantage.

Boeing 737 MAX chief project engineer Michael Teal added that the company has assessed the risk and has understood how to leverage this new technology on the MAX within their current schedule.

"This puts us on track to deliver substantial additional fuel savings to our customers in 2017," he said.

"Airlines operating the 737 MAX now will gain an 18% fuel-burn per-seat improvement over today’s A320. Depending on the range of the mission, MAX operators will realize even more savings."

"This puts us on track to deliver substantial additional fuel savings to our customers in 2017."

For designing the new winglets, Boeing aerodynamicists have incorporated rake tip technology with a dual feather winglet concept into a single treatment through the use of computational fluid dynamics.

The advanced technology winglet concept was validated during the ongoing 737 MAX’s wind tunnel testing and is expected to offer a more effective span, reducing drag as a result.

The company has incorporated the new technology, which balances the increased the wingspan between upper and lower parts of the winglet, into the 737 MAX design and production system plans.

To date, Boeing has received around 1,000 orders and commitments from 16 customers globally for the 737 MAX aircraft.


Image: The new winglets are expected to offer additional 1.5% increase in fuel savings to the 737 MAX aircraft. Photo: courtesy of Boeing.