[Paleo Conservative]

Ping!

If you want on or off my ping list, please contact me by Freep mail not by posting to this thread.

[1FASTGLOCK45]

I don't want to be on a pinglist,
What is a winglet?
Thanks

[Paleo Conservative]

Blended Winglet Equipped Boeing 757 Makes First Flight

Another Aircraft Model Enters the Sky with Blended Winglets - Landmark Milestone Achieved

SEATTLE, March 11 /PRNewswire/ -- On March 9th a Continental Airlines Boeing 757-200, outfitted with 8 foot 2 inch tall Aviation Partners Boeing Blended Winglets, flew from Everett, WA to Los Angeles with a brief stop en route at Boeing Field Seattle. "The first flight was a complete success," says Aviation Partners Boeing Vice President of Programs Jay Inman.

"From an airline perspective, this is our most significant Blended Winglet Program ever. With this technology, Boeing 757-200 operators will experience block fuel improvement of up to 5%, saving as much as 300,000 gallons per aircraft, per year for every Blended Winglet Performance Enhanced 757-200," said Aviation Partners Boeing Vice President Sales and Contracts Patrick LaMoria.

FAA certification of 757-200 Blended Winglets is anticipated in May 2005 with first customer installations beginning in July. Initial launch customers Continental Airlines and Icelandair are the first operators that will take advantage of patented* Blended Winglet Technology on their 757-200's.

"Market interest in this program has been unprecedented," says Aviation Partners Boeing CEO Mike Marino. "The 757-200 is a very popular aircraft that has been coming up in value lately. More and more airlines are looking to increase the utilization of one of the most efficient aircraft every designed on a cost per seat basis. Blended Winglet Technology, now available for the 757-200, is helping to make this possible."

Aviation Partners Boeing expects to Performance Enhance the majority of the 600 plus existing fleet of 757-200s with revolutionary Blended Winglet Technology. Operator benefits include: a block fuel improvement of up to 5%, approximately 200 nautical miles of additional range or up to 10,000 lbs. of incremental payload capability, improved second segment climb, enhanced operational flexibility (such as trading improved fuel burn for faster cruise speeds), improved takeoff performance out of high, hot, or obstacle limited airports, reduced engine maintenance costs, enhanced aesthetic appeal, increased aircraft residual value, and a range of environmental benefits that will equate to an economic payback period of less than 3 years for most operators.

"The 757-200 Blended Winglet Program is a tremendous milestone for us and very exciting from a sales perspective," says Aviation Partners Boeing Chairman Joe Clark. "This landmark program will translate into about 180 million gallons in annual fuel savings when the entire fleet of 757-200's is upgraded with Blended Winglet Technology. Anytime you can enhance the productivity of an existing asset we feel it is a wise business investment."

[rlmorel]

I recall reading at some posts on Free Republic that some pilots do not want to fly Airbus aircraft due to perceived safety issues, and have gone as far as undergoing extensive retraining even though that may have a significant impact on them.

Can any pilots out there comment on whether this is true or not?

[Redleg Duke]

Hey, they can always tow it to the show! Image is everything!

[Gunrunner2]

Yup. . .something I am looking forward to. . . 555 people showing up at the same time and everyone trundling down to Passport Control and seeing those positions manned by the same half dozen people (you know we are not hiring more to accommodate the increase in passengers).

Even better, having two or three 380's arriving nearly at the same time and we have over 1,500 people storming Passport Control, manned by the usual half dozen or so.

Yuck!

[Chad Fairbanks]

This should be good...

Hopefully it goes better for Airbus than the 1988 one did...

[null and void]

"It will be the public debut of the world's biggest plane terrorist target at the world's biggest air show"...

[Centurion2000]

It is flying over its 777-200LR, which Boeing touts as the world's longest-range jetliner

The 777-200LR is doing something that the A380 is not.

I will never understand why there is so much hype for a giant model

[anonymoussierra]

Thank you!!!!

[Phsstpok]

The Airbus A380 has long been expected to steal this year's Paris Air Show.

This sounds disturbingly like the hype leading up to the debut of the Tupelov TU144 at an earlier Paris Air Show.

Will the Airbus 380 suffer the same fate?

Remember, Murphy is an optimist. Particularly where the arrogant are concerened. And the French are as arrogant as any on the planet (with very little reason).

[You Dirty Rats]

I was in Europe last week and a Parisian business colleague asked me if Boeing was going to make a 380 competitor. He then said that he was glad the first deliveries would be to Asia, not France (he seemed a little concerned about the reliability). He then mentioned that there are a lot of Airbus employees who work in Toulouse during the week and then commute back to Paris on Fridays -- in a 747!

My colleague also mentioned that the visit to France by SecState Rice was a "seduction operation" that was totally successful and now anti-Americanism has been throttled back a bit. Seems Chirac and others were smitten with our intelligent, cultured, and frankly hot Condi!