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Certification

FAA set to announce 737 MAX 10 certification, sources say

The FAA is expected to announce certification of Boeing's largest 737 MAX variant today, the last formal step before Boeing can work toward 2027 deliveries of the long delayed jet.

20 October 2026

Boeing 737 MAX
A Boeing 737 MAX, for illustration. Not the aircraft in this story. Photo: AVA Navigate, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The FAA completed its Type Certification Board review of the Boeing 737 MAX 10 on 16 October 2026, the last formal step before it can sign a type certificate, Reuters reported on 19 October, citing people familiar with the process. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is expected to announce the certification today, 20 October, during a visit to Boeing's Everett, Washington plant, according to that reporting, also carried by US News and World Report. Leeham News and Analysis separately reported on 19 October that the FAA could issue the certificate as soon as today.

In plain terms

A type certificate is the FAA's formal finding that an aircraft design meets safety standards and may be built and sold. Until it is issued, Boeing cannot deliver a MAX 10 to a customer.

The MAX 10 is the largest variant in Boeing's single aisle family, and combined with the smaller MAX 7 it carries more than 1,700 orders, so certification unlocks a substantial share of the backlog. The program ran years behind Boeing's original schedule, delayed most recently by a flight management computer software defect disclosed in September, which the FAA's Corrective Action Review Board cleared on 2 October. Boeing still targets 2027 for first MAX 10 deliveries regardless of when the certificate is signed, since production readiness, not paperwork, now sets the pace.

On the line

Certification does not change anything for the MAX 7, 8 or 9 fleet today. It starts the clock on Boeing's production and delivery planning for the MAX 10, which operators should track through Boeing's own delivery communications rather than the certificate date.

As of this writing, neither the FAA nor Boeing had confirmed the certificate was signed. Full background on the software issue and MAX production rate is on the 737 MAX page.

Sources