After years of waiting, the American aircraft manufacturer Boeing received the green light from the Federal Aviation Agency on Monday for its 737 MAX 7, which should enter service in 2027. This progress is not enough to quench the impatience of airlines, still awaiting certification of the 737 MAX 10.

Published on: 04/08/2026 - 00:19Modified on: 04/08/2026 - 08:08

More than eight years after its first flight, in 2018, Boeing's 737 MAX 7 has finally obtained its certification, the precious key which should allow it to enter service as planned in 2027. This "approval reflects years of sustained work to resolve complex technical problems and to carry out an in-depth review of the design of the aircraft and the accompanying safety analyses", affirmed the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) in a press release Monday August 3.

Stephanie Pope, president of Boeing's commercial aviation business, welcomed this "important certification (which) validates the rigor of (Boeing's) aircraft design" in a separate statement. The first copy should be given to Southwest Airlines.

Around 7:50 p.m. GMT, Boeing shares took off 7.99% on the New York Stock Exchange.

See alsoFuselage, piloting software... When Airbus accumulates hiccups

“We look forward to the entry into service of the aircraft in the coming months,” reacted a spokesperson for the airline, calling the certification an “important step to continue to modernize” its 737 fleet. The 737 MAX 7 does not appear, at this stage, in its flight program developed until the end of March.

Deliveries of this aircraft, the smallest version of the 737 MAX family, were initially scheduled to begin in 2019 but technical pitfalls and various vicissitudes of the group continued to delay this regulatory green light.

Engine anti-freeze system gave engineers a hard time

Boeing specified in mid-July that the 737 MAX 7 had accumulated, during its certification process, 686 hours of testing, divided into 441 flights and 349 hours of ground testing. One of the last elements validated was the antifreeze system of the engines – LEAP-1Bs from CFM International (joint venture between Safran and GE Aerospace) – which gave the engineers a lot of trouble.

The aircraft manufacturer hopes that the certification of the 737 MAX 10, the big brother of the family, will also occur quickly to launch deliveries next year. During its presentation in June 2021, it was announced that they were to start two years later.

This model notably required a new angle of attack probe, a defect in which contributed to the accidents of two 737 MAX 8s in 2018 and 2019, causing 346 deaths in total and grounding all MAXs for at least 20 months. Boeing acknowledged that MCAS anti-stall software was also a factor.

For several months and again last week, Boeing executives promised that certifications were progressing in accordance with their expectations. The objective was above all to make airlines impatient with the good health of demand in the travel sector after the Covid-19 pandemic wait a little longer.

Read alsoComac, the Chinese rival who wants to shake up the match between Boeing and Airbus

Discontent is likely to continue

Especially since they have had to reshape their flight programs several times to remove these ghost aircraft, but also to extend the operation of aircraft intended to be retired, which has generated additional maintenance. But as long as the 737 MAX 10 does not obtain its certification, discontent is likely to continue: the order book contained 1,678 copies as of June 30, compared to only 310 for the 737 MAX 7.

In January 2025, the American company United Airlines said it expected the delivery of 277 copies of the MAX 10 by 2030. "We have been waiting for the MAX 10 for a very long time and, hopefully, this wait will soon end", commented Andrew Nocella, commercial director at United Airlines, in mid-July.

Jay Malave, Boeing's financial director, explained in January that around thirty MAX 10s were to be manufactured in 2026 to be delivered quickly after certification, with possible remanufacturing in the event of last-minute modifications.

According to the Cirium firm, at the end of July, 28 copies of the MAX 7 and 9 of the MAX 10 had been manufactured and parked. This latest model should mainly come from the brand new 737 MAX assembly line, the “North Line”, launched on July 6 at the Everett factory (near Seattle), because the historic factory of this family could not be expanded. This one, located in Renton – about 50 km from Everett – has three 737 MAX assembly lines, but is not large enough to build the large MAX 10 from start to finish.

The production rate of these single-aisle aircraft is currently 47 per month, increasing in increments of 5 since the FAA removed the 38 monthly cap in the fall of 2025. It was imposed after an in-flight incident on a 737 MAX 9 in January 2024. The latter has been certified since February 2018, the 737 MAX 8 since March 2017.

Boeing's final big challenge: the certification of the large 777-9 twinjet, deliveries of which are promised in 2027. That is to say seven years late.

With AFP

Keywords associated with the article

The content you are trying to access does not exist or is no longer available.