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FAA certifies Boeing 737 Max 10 for commercial delivery
The US Federal Aviation Administration has approved the Boeing 737 Max 10, the last member of the 737 Max family, clearing the way for commercial delivery after a five-year wait.
By Charlotte Redford · 2 min read
The Federal Aviation Administration has approved the Boeing 737 Max 10 for commercial delivery, completing certification of the entire 737 Max family. After a wait of roughly five years, the aircraft can now be delivered to airlines and enter passenger service.
The Max 10 is the largest and final variant in the 737 Max line, which also includes the Max 7, Max 8 and Max 9. With this approval, every model in Boeing's narrowbody family now holds regulatory clearance to operate commercially. The milestone closes a chapter that the manufacturer and its airline customers have been waiting on for years.
The delay has been one of the most significant episodes in Boeing's recent history. The 737 Max fleet was grounded worldwide in 2019 following two fatal crashes, and the Max 10 was caught up in the wider scrutiny of the programme that followed. The certification process for this variant took longer than for its siblings, leaving it as the last model to receive approval.
For airlines, the certification opens the door to deliveries of an aircraft designed to carry more passengers than earlier Max versions, giving operators a higher-capacity option within the same family. Shared design characteristics across the range are expected to simplify training and maintenance for carriers operating several variants at once.
For Boeing, the approval removes a long-standing source of uncertainty around one of its key single-aisle products. The company has faced sustained pressure over the timing of the Max programme since the grounding, and clearing the final variant allows it to concentrate on delivering aircraft to the customers who have been waiting for them.
The approval also marks a turning point for a model that has been at the centre of questions about aviation safety oversight in the United States. Regulators and manufacturer have both had to demonstrate that changes made after the crashes meet the required standards, and the completion of certification for the Max 10 signals that the process for the family as a whole has reached its conclusion.
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