GRAHAM WARWICK / WASHINGTON DC
Performance of business jet "better than expected" as customers line up for shipsets
Aviation Partners (API) expects supplemental type certification of its blended winglets on the Raytheon Hawker 800A/B by mid-November, and says the modified aircraft - dubbed the 800SP - has performed "better than predicted" in flight tests. The Seattle-based company has booked orders for 15 shipsets at an installed price of $350,000, which will increase to $395,000 after certification.
Winglets reduce fuel consumption by 7%, says API, increasing range by 335km (180nm). The Hawker 800SP also has a 2,000ft (600m) higher initial cruise altitude than a standard 800A/B, and can cruise at Mach 0.75-0.76 with the same fuel consumption as the standard aircraft at M0.73.
Around 260 Hawker 800A/Bs are candidates for modification, and API is working on winglets for around 340 later 800XPs, says chief executive Joe Clark. The possibility that new 800XPs could be produced with winglets emerged at the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) show earlier this month, when Hawker division president Brad Hatt said "exterior changes" will be introduced next year, followed by an engine change in 2005.
Discussions with Raytheon have picked up pace, Clark says, adding: "With winglets, the 800XP would compete against the Cessna Citation Sovereign." Certification of the mid-size Sovereign is scheduled later this year, and Cessna has upgraded its performance specification based on flight testing. Range has been increased 8% to 5,625km, and maximum operating Mach number by 0.02 to 0.8.
With around $10 million invested in the 800SP programme, API is looking at Cessna's straight-wing Citations as its most likely next winglet project. Cessna itself has flight tested winglets on the swept-wing Citation X, but says no decision has been made on whether to offer them on the high-speed business jet. API has had "no conversations" with Cessna, but the "best candidates are in the Citation family", Clark says.
NBAA may have provided a reprieve for API's Gulfstream II winglet modification. Before the show, API warned it might end its IISP programme after the five shipsets in stock were sold, but Clark says the company booked four new orders at NBAA and expects additional sales next month. API has already upgraded almost 70% of the GII fleet with blended winglets, which reduce fuel consumption by 7%.
Source: Flight International
