Aviation Partners by year end will begin offering Hawker 800 and Hawker 800XP winglets with a visual flair that the company says "further separate our winglets from the other ones out there."
Along with the visual, the addition of the scimitar tip to the standard blended winglet will boost the long-range cruise drag reduction of the winglets from 7.3-7.8%, says Gary Dunn, vice president of sales.
The company says there will be no additional cost to the $451,000 kit for the scimitar add-ons, though Dunn says there will likely be a price increase next year. "We've been studying the [scimitar] concept for some time, but this is the first application for which we're selling it," says Dunn, adding that there is not yet a launch customer. "We're just unveiling it here at the show," he says. Dunn says there are 300-400 Hawker 800 series aircraft that could be equipped with winglets.
Differentiation in the product line is getting more important as competitor Winglet Technology gains additional platforms for its elegant elliptical winglets, which have been selected by Cessna for the Citation Ten and Hawker Beechcraft for the Hawker 200. The company has an STC to install the devices on existing Citation Xs, 19 of which are now flying. "Customers rave about the performance of the winglets," says Bob Kiser, president of Winglet Technology. "We sell it based on the performance. The aesthetics comes along for the ride."
Source: Flight Daily News
