One year after the plant extension, the FACC subsidiary located in Wichita, USA, has reached an impressive milestone with the modification of the 1000th shipset of Split Scimitar Winglets. FACC Solutions Inc. is delivering the ‘anniversary component’ to Southwest Airlines for the upgrade of a Boeing 737NG.
The project aimed at converting Blended Winglets into Split Scimitar Winglets on Boeing 737 aircraft has proved very successful since its introduction at FACC in 2014. The subsidiary, FACC Solutions located in Wichita has now completed the 1,000th shipset of winglet modifications.
For CEO Robert Machtlinger, this is confirmation of FACC's international outlook: "We have been operating globally ever since FACC was first founded, and we collaborate with the most innovative companies in the aerospace industry. The plant location in the USA not only affords us a worldwide presence and customer proximity, but also offers high-quality support services in the Aftermarket Services segment. This enables us to enter the MRO sector of the American market in the best possible way.”
To date, FACC Austria and FACC Wichita have supplied almost 1,500 Split Scimitar Winglet systems for the worldwide retrofitting of Boeing 737NG aircraft.
“The entire Wichita team is delighted to share this significant milestone with our colleagues in Austria as well as our long-term partner and customer, Aviation Partners Boeing. Over the course of these five years, we have honed our knowledge and skills to provide best in class turnaround time and exceptional cost performance. We look forward to the next 1,000,” comments Dean Poor, president of FACC Solutions, Inc.
Innovative and sustainable
The Split Scimitar Winglet is an advanced winglet system in which a ventral fin is mounted underneath the existing Blended Winglet. The Split Scimitar Winglet modification reduces Boeing Next-Generation 737 block fuel consumption by up to an additional 2.2% over Blended Winglets. This in turn leads to substantial reduction in CO2 emissions. In cooperation with its customer Aviation Partners Boeing, FACC has so far supplied a total of 6,500 Blended and Split Scimitar Winglet systems for aircraft retrofits. This has reduced the fuel consumption of Boeing 737 fleets worldwide by more than 10 billion gallons, or approximately 37bn litres, over the past 15 years, thus preventing 105 million tons of CO2 emissions.
Christian Mundigler, vice-president, FACC Aftermarket Services, comments on this valuable contribution to environmental protection as follows: “Airlines are always on the lookout for innovative ways to make flying greener. With the two winglet systems developed by Aviation Partners Boeing and supplied by FACC in Austria and the USA, we are helping airlines to both increase the sustainability and efficiency of their fleets and to cut operating costs.”
As a true one-stop shop, FACC is able to convert a Boeing 737 Blended Winglet into a Boeing 737 Split Scimitar Winglet, including the application of the aircraft livery, in just ten days thanks to its expertise and high-performance infrastructure. In order to carry out these upgrades on the American aerospace market, FACC set up the strategic aviation location Wichita as a so-called centre of excellence in 2014. In 2018, FACC decided to make further investments in the US subsidiary FACC Solutions and to increase the total plant area to 5,600m2 in order to offer customers maximum flexibility and speed. Moreover, the plant extension meets all relevant technical and regulatory requirements to enable FSI Wichita to carry out maintenance work on structural components of wings, tail units, engines and the aircraft cabin. Against the backdrop of this impressive milestone, these strategic investments in FACC Solutions Inc. have proven to be appropriate and successful.
Specialised FACC repair shops can be found not only in the USA, but also at FACC's headquarters in Ried im Innkreis, Austria, and in Montreal, Canada. Custom repair solutions, modifications and overhauls are provided with the expertise of an original equipment manufacturer.
“The MRO segment holds great potential for FACC,” concludes Mundigler. “The increased use of composite materials in aircraft construction will also increase the demand for maintenance and repair services for composite components. This area provides us with numerous opportunities to further expand our product and service portfolio as well as our customer base.”
