We’ve spoken about the benefits of retro-fitting winglets on aircraft before. Now, Aviation Partners Boeing, the makers of winglet devices for the Boeing 737, 757 and 767 have announced just how much these devices can save – as of tomorrow, March 5 at 19:05 in Seattle, blended winglets will have saved the world’s airlines 2 billion gallons of jet fuel. This represents a global reduction in CO2 emissions of almost 21.5 million tonnes since they were first introduced in 2001.

These winglets are now flying on more than 3,700 aircraft around the world and many, such as Air New Zealand, are finding that they are saving more fuel than planned. Airbus is also getting in on the game, joining Aviation Partners to design blended winglets for their own models.

- Image from Flickr user Erwyn van der Meer.