Nearly a decade after Boeing unveiled its largest 737 Max jet, the company has overcome a major hurdle in its effort to bring the plane to airlines. The Federal Aviation Administration approved the Max 10 for passenger service Tuesday, ending years of delays.
Certification of the 737 Max 10 represents another step in Boeing’s efforts to restore its reputation and financial footing after years of safety, quality and production challenges. Once approved for production, the aircraft can now be sold to domestic and foreign carriers.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the certification followed “extensive safety reviews,” including thousands of hours of test flights, and called it a major victory for the U.S. manufacturing industry.
“To think it took us almost 10 years to get to this point. We probably all had a little less gray hair 10 years ago,” Duffy said during a visit Tuesday to Boeing’s manufacturing plant in Everett, Washington.
The Max 10 is an important part of the company’s efforts to regain ground in the narrowbody market. For airlines, the larger plane offers a way to carry more passengers on a single flight, potentially reducing costs per seat. For travelers, that could eventually mean more seats on popular routes, although the impact on fares will depend on how airlines deploy their planes and how much competition they face.
Stephanie Pope, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said during Duffy’s visit that the certification “paves the way for the delivery of an aircraft that will set a new standard in commercial aviation.” The Max 10 will typically accommodate between 185 and 210 passengers, according to Boeing, compared to 175 to 195 passengers for the Max 9 and 160 to 180 passengers for the Max 8.
“Today is a very, very special day. It caps off years of hard work and dedication from many people,” Pope said. “This marks another major milestone in our recovery and paves the way for a key to our future growth. »
The company plans to begin deliveries in 2027.
The single-aisle plane was introduced at the Paris Air Show in 2017 to help Boeing compete with rival Airbus. But technical and regulatory hurdles have repeatedly delayed certification.
Boeing’s difficulties have been particularly acute since two fatal accidents involving the smaller Max 8, which killed 346 people in 2018 and 2019 off the coasts of Indonesia and Ethiopia. In 2024, a panel took off from an Alaska Airlines Max 9 in mid-flight, renewing scrutiny of Boeing’s manufacturing and safety practices.
The delays have set back a key part of Boeing’s business. More than 30 customers worldwide have ordered 1,555 Max 10s that Boeing has yet to deliver, representing more than 30% of its total 737 Max order backlog.
Major customers include United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and Ryanair. Alaska Airlines joined that list in January, ordering 105 Max 10s, with options for 35 more.
The Max 10 is intended to compete with Airbus’ A321neo family of models, which entered service in 2017. The larger A321neo can carry more passengers and fly further without refueling than the Max 10.
Boeing nevertheless designed the Max 10 to carry more passengers while burning less fuel than older planes – a potentially attractive combination for airlines facing soaring jet fuel costs amid the US-Iran war. These rising costs have put additional pressure on airlines to control their spending.
Certification means that the FAA has determined that the Max 10 design meets safety standards, following technical reviews and flight tests. But Boeing must continue to show that it can consistently build its planes to the approved design, and each plane must be licensed before it can carry passengers.
The certification of the Max 10 completes the range of four 737 Max models. The FAA authorized the Max 7 for use by airlines in August.
Pope on Tuesday described the certification of the Max 7 and Max 10 in the same year as a sign of the company’s resilience.
In the wake of the fatal Max 8 crashes, the FAA has overhauled how it certifies Boeing planes. But over the past 18 months, the agency has gradually eased some of its restrictions on the company, increasing the limit on the number of planes Boeing can produce.
In July, the FAA also said Boeing could again issue certificates of airworthiness for its 737 Max and 787 planes when production ends, allowing the company to take back some of the responsibility for determining whether finished planes are ready to fly.
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