By Howard Hardee • Editor
September 16, 2026
Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg has assured the market that FAA certification of the 737 Max 10 is nearly in hand, with deliveries of the most-stretched variant of the 737 family still expected to begin next year.
Speaking to investors during the Morgan Stanley Laguna Conference on September 16, Ortberg said that Boeing will secure an amended type certificate for the Max 10 “very soon.”
“When I left Seattle yesterday, I think we had three deliverables to complete all the deliverables to the FAA,” he said. “Now, the FAA work is quite a bit larger to review all that documentation than on the [Max 7], but we’re in close coordination and working with them on that.”
The 737 Max 10 is expected to boost revenue from Boeing Commercial Airplanes and help bring financial stability to the broader company. Photo credit: Boeing
Boeing concluded the certification test-flight campaign for the Max 10 in late July, leaving the FAA’s extensive paperwork requirements as the bulk of the remaining work. Now, it appears the regulator’s paperwork requirements are close to being satisfied.
Ortberg also said that European regulators are highly engaged with the Max 10 program.
“We had EASA flying the -10 this week, and they were highly complimentary,” he said. “Things are looking really good to get certification right now.”
Finally clearing certification of the Max 10 will be an enormous milestone for Boeing. It is counting on the type to be a major revenue driver—finally providing a close competitor for the Airbus A321neo—and ultimately help Boeing Commercial Airplanes return to profitability.
Fleets data provided by Cirium shows more than 1,400 orders for the type, reflecting strong global demand for larger, high-capacity narrowbody aircraft. Ortberg said that the Max 10 represents roughly 30% of Boeing’s outstanding backlog.
Better Late Than…
Certification of both the Max 7 and Max 10 suffered from years-long delays, with the Max crisis of 2018-19 placing intense scrutiny on Boeing’s certification processes and its relationship with the FAA. More recently, an engine anti-ice system that caused the type’s CFM LEAP-1B engines to overheat while running continuously emerged as the primary hurdle for certification of the Max 7 and Max 10.
Boeing has said it has resolved the engine anti-ice issue with an aerodynamic solution.
In August, Boeing finally secured a type certificate for the Max 7—a mostly symbolic victory as the smallest 737 Max variant has not been a strong-selling aircraft. (The company believes that orders for the type, which have mostly been limited to a single customer in Southwest Airlines, will pick up now that the aircraft is certified.)
Max 10 production will be based mostly at the newly opened North Line in Everett, Washington, rather than the airframer’s primary 737 production facility in Renton.
Leeham News and Analysis was present in early July when the second Max 10 fuselage was loaded onto the North Line, fresh after delivery from Boeing Wichita in Kansas. The first two Everett-produced examples of the Max 10 are being used to certify the production line itself, which is on track to start delivering jets to customers in 2027.
“One advantage Everett gives us is the -10 is a longer airplane,” Ortberg said on September 16. “We can’t go nose-to-tail in the factory in Renton with all -10s; we can do that in Everett, so it’ll give us a little more flexibility for product mix there.”
Boeing is introducing an Enhanced Angle of Attack System (AoA) on the Max 10, in response concerns from US lawmakers that the sensor system that contributed to both Max crashes was not sufficiently redundant. Once the Max 10 achieves certification, the new AoA system will be equipped on all new Max jets, and retrofits will begin on aircraft already in service.
In terms of the medium-term outlook for the 737 program, Boeing will continue working through a low-margin portion of its narrowbody backlog through the end of the decade, as aircraft that were promised to airlines years ago now come with compensation penalties.
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