Aviation Partners Inc.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Aviation Partners Inc. is a Seattle based private corporation which produces and markets winglet systems. It was founded in 1991 by Joe Clark and Dennis Washington, bringing together a team consisting primarily of retired Boeing and Lockheed engineers and flight test department directors.
The 1st major project API brought to the market was an STC for blended winglets for the Grumman Gulfstream II business jet. This modification proved to be very popular and currently over 75% of G2 aircraft in service have been up-graded.
In 1999, Aviation Partners, in a joint venture with The Boeing Company, formed Aviation Partners Boeing (APB), which licenses the Blended Winglet Technology for use on a wide range of Boeing designed aircraft. [1] Starting with the Boeing Business Jet, winglets have been factory installed onto the Next Generation 737 as well as retrofitted on B737 ‘Classic’ and 757 airliners. Winglets are also available for the 767-300ER.[2]
In addition to the Boeing airliner programs API has certified winglets for the Raytheon Hawker 800 series jets and has over 90 Blended Winglet equipped Hawkers in service as of May 2007.
At EBACE 2007, Dassualt Aviation in conjunction with Aviation Partners announced the Falcon 2000 LX aircraft. A derivative of the Falcon 2000 EX airframe, it is the first aircraft be put into production with API's new High Mach winglets. Dassault and API also are developing winglets for the Falcon 900 and 50 series aircraft.
