Boeing CEO says 737 MAX 10 certification is close

Boeing chief executive Kelly Ortberg says the 737 MAX 10 is close to certification. Speaking Wednesday at the Morgan Stanley Laguna Conference, he said the programme has finished flight testing and is now working through paperwork.

Three items remained on the list of materials Boeing owes the FAA when Ortberg left Seattle the day before, he said. The regulator's review is a bigger job than the equivalent work on the smaller MAX variant, he added, and the two sides are in close contact.

Boeing completed the type's final certification flight in July. The test campaign covered landing gear, braking systems, engine anti-ice changes and a revised angle-of-attack system, logging 976 flights and more than 2,060 flight hours. The FAA will decide when the aircraft meets the requirements for an amended type certificate.

Assembly has already started. Boeing is building two MAX 10s at its Everett, Washington, site to qualify the new production line. Ortberg said the variant makes up roughly 30% of the company's 737 order backlog, with output expected to settle at a similar share.

First deliveries are still planned for 2027, the timeline Boeing has been stating. The FAA approved the smaller 737 MAX 7 in August, after a certification effort that ran longer than originally scheduled.