Aviation Partners, Inc., the Seattle, Wash. firm that specializes in developing winglet retrofits for business jets and commercial airliners, believes hundreds of Hawker 800 business jet operators will opt to install the performance-enhancing devices on their aircraft now that API has finally won certification from FAA.
According to API, the 44-inch Blended Winglet Technology devices can add seven percent more range, faster climbs to altitude, higher initial cruise levels and better performance from hot-and-high airports. "Blended Winglets transform the standard 2,510-nmi Hawker 800 to a 2,690-capable HawkerSP," said Gary Dunn, sales director for API. "For a takeoff weight-limited high-altitude airport and hot day, 800SP operators will be able to depart with up to 1,800 pounds more weight."
There are currently more than 600 Hawker 800 series aircraft that were built between 1984 and the present day. Joe Clark, CEO of API, told ShowNews he believes hundreds of Hawker 800 operators will opt to have the winglets installed on their aircraft, at $395,000 a time. API plans to do the first couple of aircraft in-house and then license three or four U.S. maintenance/overhaul providers and a couple of more overseas to do the work.
Achieving certification for the Hawker 800 winglets has been much tougher for API than it was for its earlier Gulfstream and Boeing 737 programs. Clark said it took only about a year to win FAA approval for converting Gulfstream IIs into GII-SPs. Winning approval for adding winglets to the Boeing Business Jet, the Boeing 737-700/800 NG series and the Boeing 737-300 Classic also was relatively straightforward. API announced the Hawker program more than three years ago, but it soon found that many of the original drawings and blueprints—produced in the early 1960s when the original program was launched by British manufacturer de Havilland—were unavailable. As a result, API had to reverse-engineer the airplane into the company's CATIA model. This involved laser-scanning the airframe and other detailed analysis.
In addition to finding and addressing several technical issues, API also found that winning FAA approval for a Supplemental Type Certificate was much more complex and difficult that it had been for API's earlier programs. "It was a long time in coming," said Dick Friel, evp of marketing. While he was hesitant to criticize federal certification officials, Clark observed that API officials found themselves working with "a different FAA today," resulting in much longer delays in winning technical approval than they had anticipated.
That effort has now paid off. Clark said API expects to win approval for winglet installations on Hawker 800XP aircraft within 30 to 45 days, adding that "all the heavy lifting" is done. Retrofits of the 800XPs will be priced at $425,000.
