Certification of the Boeing 737 MAX 10 by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) could be imminent after the US regulator completed one of the final reviews required for the largest member of the 737 MAX family.
Boeing and the FAA held a Type Certification Board meeting on Friday, October 16, according to The Air Current. The meeting is among the final steps before the regulator decides whether to issue the type certificate, and approval could come as soon as next week.
The MAX 10 has been awaiting certification after completing its planned flight-test campaign in July. Boeing recorded 976 flights and more than 2,060 flight hours during the program, in addition to approximately 1,040 hours of ground testing.
The process suffered another delay in late September after the FAA began reviewing a flight management computer software issue that could cause vertical navigation (VNAV) to disengage under specific circumstances during a go-around.
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FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said at the time that certification would not proceed until the agency had completed its assessment. The regulator subsequently determined that the issue did not pose a safety concern requiring correction before certification, allowing the process to resume.
More than 1,500 aircraft awaiting delivery
The MAX 10 has accumulated a substantial backlog during the prolonged certification process. Boeing's latest orders and deliveries data show 1,555 unfilled orders for the variant, out of 1,702 gross orders recorded since the program was launched.
The manufacturer has also continued assembling aircraft before certification. Boeing reported in June that it had approximately 40 MAX 7 and MAX 10 aircraft in inventory combined, with none of either variant yet delivered.
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Those aircraft cannot be handed over to customers until their respective variants receive regulatory approval. Boeing has previously said it expects first MAX 10 deliveries in 2027.
The MAX 10 is the highest-capacity member of the 737 MAX family and is intended to compete more directly with the Airbus A321neo. Major customers include United Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Ryanair.
Years of certification delays
Boeing originally expected the MAX 10 to enter service in 2020. Its certification was disrupted first by the grounding and subsequent regulatory changes affecting the entire MAX family and later by additional technical requirements.
One of the most significant involved the engine anti-ice system. Boeing developed a design change after identifying conditions in which prolonged use of the system in dry air could cause excessive heating and potentially damage the engine inlet.
The MAX 10 also introduces an enhanced Angle of Attack (eAoA) system required under US legislation. The system will subsequently be incorporated across the 737 MAX family.
The smaller MAX 7 received FAA certification in August, leaving the MAX 10 as the only member of the family still without regulatory approval.
