# How did this flydubai 737NG get Max winglets?

I’ve seen this one on my way to the office in DXB. It’s clearly equipped with paired MAX winglets, however the engines are not curly. So judging by symptoms it’s not MAX. Was filming from a car, hence tail number is not visible. It’s A6-FEC, which, according to planespotters.net, is 737ng and 7+ years old. How did it get those winglets?

• The registration looks like it ends in "FES" not "FEC" to me. Doesn't really matter either way, they are both 737NG's, only FEC is 2 years older than FES. – Ron Beyer Mar 9 '20 at 20:22

The modification requires a trailing edge wedge, strengthened stringers and ballast weight but no changes to any avionics or the FMC. The base price cost for an upgrade from blended winglets to SSWs was $555,000 as of 2014. (b737.org.uk) According to this article (in German), Flydubai is using this upgrade since 2019: The low-cost airline from Dubai is equipping 30 Boeing 737-800s with so-called Split Scimitar Winglets. The scimitars on the wing tips save thousands of liters of fuel. [...] The first aircraft of the low-cost airline from Dubai - it bears the A6-FEC registration - has already been equipped with the split wing tips. (translated by Google) It is not exactly the same winglet as the MAX has (see also Why do newer 737s use two different styles of split winglets?) as you can see in the following images: (Flydubai Boeing 737 NG, aerotelegraph.com) (Flydubai Boeing 737 MAX, photo by Nabeel A. Hashmi) • Those have to be REALLY effective to be worth over half a million dollars! – Mike Brockington Mar 10 '20 at 13:24 • @MikeBrockington If they fly 6 legs of 1000NM every day at 1.6% lower fuel burn, they save about 560kg of fuel a day. At \$600 per ton, that is \$336 saved per day, which means they save \$555,000 after about 4.5 years. At 2 legs of 3000NM every day (which saves 2.2%), they already break even after 3.3 years. – Bianfable Mar 10 '20 at 13:42