GENEVA -- Aviation Partners Inc. (API) confirms that both the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) granted Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) approval for its High Mach Blended Winglets on the Falcon 2000 Series. Certification of the Winglets represents the culmination of a three-year development program and exhaustive flight testing carried out in collaboration with Dassault Falcon Jet; a working relationship first announced at EBACE in 2007 at the launch of the 2000LX (the 2000LX is the 2000EX EASy with API Blended Winglet STC installed in production).
"Anytime you can improve the productivity and performance of an existing asset, while making it more eco-friendly, is a wise investment," says Joe Clark, API founder and CEO, "We are doing our part in a changing world."
The Winglets for the Falcon 2000 Series are "High Mach" Blended Winglets - this revolutionary new-design is optimized for cruise speeds of Mach .80 and higher. On the 2000EX the Winglets will provide a drag reduction of 5 percent at Mach .80, which equates to a 200+ nm range increase; at long-range cruise speeds the benefits are even greater. The five to more than seven percent fuel savings reduce emissions.
The current in-service Falcon 2000 series fleet is over 400 aircraft. API has now turned its attention to certifying the same Winglets for the Falcon 900 series, followed by the Falcon 50.
"With a combined in-service fleet of around 1,200 airframes the Falcon High Mach Blended Winglets should be our most successful business jet program to date," says Gary Dunn, API Vice President of Sales.
API is accepting orders for Falcon 2000 and 2000EX retrofits at EBACE; and, despite the current global economy has a substantial backlog of orders. Details of the installation center network will be announced shortly; downtime for the modification is anticipated to be around 15 days.
For more information visit www.aviationpartners.com.
