Aviation Partners hopes to win European Aviation Safety Agency certification for its Hawker 800 and 800XP blended winglet retrofit within months, following the award of Transport Canada certification in early March.
Aviation Partners vice-president of sales Gary Dunn says certification will also be sought in Brazil "in fairly short order".
The upgrade will be certificated for availability "wherever there is a sizeable fleet of Hawker 800s and XPs". The company, which established the winglet retrofit market with early Gulfstream models, is also expected to seek follow-on certifications for the Hawker modification in South Africa and Saudi Arabia.
Transport Canada approval followed that of the US Federal Aviation Administration in July 2004 for the baseline 800 and a follow-on amendment to the supplemental type certificate for the 800XP late last year.
To date, 10 Hawker 800s have been modified with the winglets, eight of them 800s and two 800XPs. "In the next month you will have another three coming out, and the next five are all XPs," says Dunn, who adds: "Pretty soon the mix will be 50:50 [800s, XP] and in the future it will probably reflect the overall split in the fleet, or roughly two to one."
According to Aviation Partners, a Hawker 800 upgraded with the winglet kit becomes known as an 800SP, while a Hawker 800XP becomes an 800XP2.
Source: Flight International
