By Vincenzo Claudio Piscopo
Ryanair Begins Scimitar Retrofit For its Boeing 737 Fleet
On 23 January 2023, Ryanair installed Split Scimitar Winglets on the first of more than 400 new-generation Boeing 737-800 aircraft in its fleet in order to reduce its carbon footprint. The Split Scimitar Winglets, jointly developed with Boeing, can reduce aerodynamic drag by up to 2%.
This retrofit comes after signing a $175 million deal with Aviation Partners Boeing (APB) and will improve the fuel efficiency of the Boeing 737 NG aircraft by up to 1.5%. Although these may seem like very small numbers, the efficiencies achieved through operational improvements make a big difference. At every stage of an aircraft’s operations, there are opportunities to reduce fuel consumption and, consequently, emissions. By fitting Split Scimitar Winglets Ryanair has estimated a reduction in annual consumption of 65 million liters of paraffin, as well as reducing the Irish airline’s carbon emissions by around 165,000 tonnes of CO2.
The investment was brought forward by Ryanair as the Irish airline plans to grow to carry 225 million passengers by 2026. These winglet modifications will further the airline’s goal of achieving zero emissions by 2050.
Split Scimitar Winglets (SSW) are offered by APB for the 737-800 and 737-900ER and entered service in early 2014. United Airlines’ first Boeing 737-800 equipped with the SSWs made its first test flight on 16 July 2013.
With the new winglets, the Boeing 737 NG will look very similar to the Boeing 737 MAX currently operated by Ryanair’s fleet. However, there are some differences:
– The Split Scimitar Winglets (of the Boeing 737s NG) have a mixed winglet-shaped main body, but with the upper end hooked backward, and they also have an additional scimitar-shaped fin that protrudes outwards and backward from the curvature of the winglet. The modification requires a trailing edge wedge and reinforced spars but does not involve any changes to the avionics, which is what makes them such a good investment.
– The MAX winglets (of the Boeing 737s MAX) have a simpler shape than the SSW, which is not ‘split in two’ but has a single continuous winglet, a small one at the bottom of the wingtip and a bigger one at the top.
A set of Split Scimitar Winglets weighs 133 kg (294 lbs) per aircraft, but allows a fuel economy of 1.6% on 1000-mile routes, rising to 2.2% on 3000-mile routes. This equates to an additional range of 65 nm.
Patrick LaMoria, APB’s Chief Commercial Officer, said it is an honor to be able to install Split Scimitar Winglets on the world’s largest fleet of next-generation 737-800 aircraft.
The retrofit of Split Scimitar Winglets was approved by the European Aviation Safety Agency in 2015, after receiving the green light from the Federal Aviation Administration for the US market.
Vincenzo graduated in 2019 in Mechanical Engineering with an aeronautical curriculum, focusing his thesis on Human Factors in aircraft maintenance. In 2022 he pursued his master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Palermo, Italy. He combines his journalistic activities with his work as a Safety and Reliability Engineer for Teoresi Group at Leonardo S.p.A.
