Alaska Airlines to cut fuel consumption with new split winglets on 737 fleet

Alaska Airlines, a subsidiary of Alaska Air Group, is installing new winglets on its Boeing Next Generation 737 aircraft to improve the performance of its jetliners and lower fuel consumption.

The split winglet will cut fuel consumption by 58,000gal per aircraft and carbon emissions by 57,000t, saves the carrier an excess of $20m annually.

Winglets decrease fuel consumption by reducing drag that allows aircraft to fly at cruise speed with less engine power.

Alaska Airlines’ finance vice president and treasurer Mark Eliasen said that reducing fuel consumption has been a top priority at the company for years.

"Thanks to the hard work and dedication of our employees, we’ve cut our carbon emissions by 30% per passenger mile since 2004," said Eliasen.

"Investing in split winglets will further reduce our fuel use and continue our efforts to be the industry leader in environmental stewardship."

Designed by Seattle-based Aviation Partners Boeing, the first winglet will be installed in early 2014, with the project scheduled to be completed by 2017.

Alaska plans to install the winglets on 111 aircraft, including many of its 737-800s, 900s and all of its 900ER range.

Installation on each aircraft will be scheduled during routine maintenance inspections.

Alaska Airlines said it will recover the cost of the winglets through fuel savings in just two years.

Among the carrier’s other efforts to lower fuel consumption are migration to a fleet of all-Boeing 737 jets, installation of lighter inflight food and beverage carts, and instituted procedures like taxiing on one engine instead of two.

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Image: The split winglet will cut fuel consumption by 58,000gal per aircraft annually. Photo: courtesy of PRNewsFoto/Alaska Airlines.