FAA Certifies Boeing 737 MAX 10, Clearing Way for Deliveries After Years of Delay

The Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday certified Boeing’s 737 MAX 10, clearing the way for deliveries of the largest 737 MAX variant after years of delay and marking a significant milestone in Boeing’s commercial recovery under a tougher post-crisis regulatory regime.

The FAA said it issued an amended type certificate for the 737-10 and an updated Production Limitation Record authorizing production. That means the jet “can be delivered to domestic and foreign carriers,” the agency said. Boeing said the certification “clears the way” to begin delivering the aircraft in the coming months.

The 737-10 is the biggest member of the MAX family, designed for the high-capacity end of the single-aisle market. Boeing says the aircraft can seat up to 230 passengers in a single-class configuration, with typical two-class layouts of 185 to 210 seats, and has a range of about 3,100 nautical miles, or 5,740 kilometers. That combination matters to airlines because it gives them a larger narrow-body jet for busy routes without moving up to a twin-aisle aircraft.

The approval also carries competitive weight. Boeing says customers have placed 1,555 orders for the 737-10, making it an important product in its bid to compete with the Airbus A321neo family. Across the broader 737 MAX program, Boeing says it had about 7,350 total orders and nearly 2,500 deliveries through the end of September 2026.

What makes Tuesday’s decision especially notable is the FAA’s emphasis on safety changes tied to reforms adopted after the MAX crisis. The agency said it required the 737-10 to incorporate “key improvements” implementing the Aircraft Certification, Safety, and Accountability Act and recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board, including updates to the flight-control system and an enhanced angle-of-attack sensor, which helps measure the aircraft’s pitch relative to the airflow. Boeing said that enhanced angle-of-attack system introduced on the 737-10 will become standard across the 737 MAX family.

The certification effort was also extensive. Boeing said it included nearly 1,000 total test flights, more than 2,000 total flight hours and 1,000 ground test hours. The approval followed a brief FAA review earlier this month of a flight-management software issue that regulators concluded was not a safety-of-flight issue.

The 737 MAX family was grounded worldwide for about 20 months after two fatal crashes — Lion Air Flight 610 in October 2018 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in March 2019. Those accidents triggered sweeping changes in aircraft certification oversight, design review and pilot training requirements, making the MAX 10’s approval more than a routine signoff on a derivative model.

“The FAA’s decision follows a thorough review of the aircraft’s design and safety requirements,” FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said in a statement. “We will continue to hold Boeing to the highest safety standards as the company begins production of the 737 MAX-10.”

Stephanie Pope, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said certification “clears the path” for deliveries of a jet that offers airlines more capacity and range. For Boeing, the decision unlocks a long-delayed aircraft in one of the industry’s most important market segments. For airlines, it finally allows fleet plans built around the MAX 10 to start turning into deliveries.