FAA Certifies Boeing 737 MAX 10 After Seven-Year Delay, Clearing Deliveries for 1,500 Orders

The Federal Aviation Administration has certified Boeing’s 737 MAX 10, clearing the largest member of the MAX family for customer deliveries after an almost seven-year delay. The October 20 decision removes the aircraft’s principal U.S. regulatory barrier and opens a path toward fulfilling nearly 1,500 orders, roughly 30% of Boeing’s total 737 backlog.

Certification is a major state change, but it does not make those aircraft immediately available. Boeing must establish delivery timing, prepare completed jets for customers, obtain approval for production at its new Everett line and finish a permanent update for a recently disclosed software problem. Airlines also have their own training, maintenance and operational preparations before carrying passengers.

Why approval took years

The first MAX 10 rolled out in November 2019, when service entry was planned for 2020. Its schedule was overtaken by the worldwide MAX grounding, tighter certification requirements and increased FAA scrutiny following two fatal MAX 8 crashes in 2018 and 2019. The MAX 10 review subsequently had to incorporate requirements from the Aircraft Certification, Safety, and Accountability Act and recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board.

The FAA said required improvements include flight-control changes and an enhanced angle of attack sensor, which measures aircraft pitch relative to the airflow. The certification campaign concluded flight testing in July after nearly 1,000 flights and more than 2,060 hours in the air. That test volume illustrates why certification cannot be treated as a paperwork milestone: regulators must determine that the complete design, including interacting hardware and software, complies with applicable safety standards.

Two later technical issues added further pressure. A flaw identified in 2023 created a risk that continuous operation of the engine anti-ice system could overheat the engine inlet. Boeing then disclosed a software issue in September that could prevent pilots from using automated flight guidance in a specific landing scenario.

The FAA initially held off on approval over the software issue, according to Reuters, but later determined that it was not a safety-of-flight concern requiring correction before certification. Boeing is still developing a permanent software update. This approach allows deliveries to advance while preserving a defined post-certification engineering task, placing importance on configuration control: Boeing and operators must know which software standard is installed on each aircraft and how the eventual update will be introduced.

Certification moves the constraint to production

The immediate bottleneck now shifts from demonstrating an acceptable design to building and delivering aircraft that conform to it. Boeing reported holding about 40 completed MAX 7 and MAX 10 aircraft in inventory at the end of June. Chief executive Kelly Ortberg has said the company expects to work through stored jets from both models over roughly 18 months.

Stored aircraft are not interchangeable with ready to deliver inventory. Each must match its customer’s cabin and equipment requirements, incorporate the approved configuration and pass the inspections needed for delivery. The figure of nearly 1,500 orders also represents a multiyear production obligation, not a fleet of completed aircraft waiting on an FAA signature.

Boeing is moving its overall 737 production rate from 42 to 47 aircraft per month, with additional increases planned. It opened another 737 line in Everett in July to supplement the Renton operation, but that line must receive FAA production certification before aircraft built there can be delivered. Expanding output while maintaining conformity to the certified design will therefore be a separate regulatory and manufacturing test.

That distinction is especially important after heightened scrutiny of Boeing’s quality and production systems. Type certification establishes that the MAX 10 design meets applicable requirements. Production oversight addresses whether aircraft can be built repeatedly to that approved design, while individual airworthiness steps determine whether each completed jet is fit for operation.

Airlines gain capacity, but on an uncertain schedule

The MAX 10 seats between 185 and 230 passengers and has a range of about 3,100 nautical miles. Its higher capacity gives airlines another way to add seats on busy routes without moving to a twin-aisle aircraft, potentially reducing operating cost per seat. Any effect on passenger fares will depend on airline deployment and competition rather than certification alone.

United Airlines has 167 firm orders, while Alaska Airlines has 105. Ryanair, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines are also significant customers. Their fleet plans have had to absorb years of uncertainty around a model intended to compete with the Airbus A321neo at the upper end of the single-aisle market.

The FAA’s decision ends that regulatory wait, but delivery execution will determine when airlines and passengers see the result. Boeing now has to convert an approved design, stored aircraft and a large paper backlog into conforming jets delivered at a sustainable rate all while completing the permanent software update and securing production approval for Everett.

By Thomas Caldwell — AMI’s senior editor for mechanical and mobility engineering, covering vehicle electronics, systems integration, electrification, chassis systems, propulsion, and safety policy.