FAA certifies Boeing’s 737 MAX-10 and approves its production, starting the clock on a federal safety deadline for every 737 MAX

The Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday that it has certified Boeing’s 737 MAX-10 and approved its production. The agency said it issued an amended type certificate, which it said confirms the aircraft meets all applicable design and safety requirements, and an updated Production Limitation Record, which authorizes the plane to be built. With production approved, the FAA said, the aircraft can be delivered to U.S. and foreign airlines.¹

Before approving the plane, the FAA said, it required changes tied to the Aircraft Certification, Safety, and Accountability Act and to National Transportation Safety Board recommendations, including flight-control updates with an enhanced angle of attack sensor.¹

What the approval sets in motion

The certification starts two deadlines written into federal law. In a notice published Dec. 15, 2025, the FAA said a 2022 amendment that added section 44744 to Title 49 of the U.S. Code ties the timing to the day the 737-10 is type certificated.²

• Beginning one year after that approval, the FAA may not issue an original airworthiness certificate for any 737 MAX aircraft unless its type design includes the required safety enhancements, according to the notice.²
• Beginning three years after that approval, no 737 MAX aircraft may be operated unless its type design includes the enhancements and the individual plane was built or altered to match.²

According to the notice, the law defines those enhancements as “a synthetic enhanced angle of attack system and a means to shut off stall warning and overspeed alerts, or their equivalents.” In it, the FAA said it would evaluate and, as appropriate, certify the enhancements on the 737-10 and on the other 737 MAX models, and monitor Boeing and airlines so in-service U.S.-registered planes are retrofitted before the deadline.²

AVweb, an aviation news site, reported that the approval puts those deadlines at October 2027 for newly certificated 737 aircraft and October 2029 for existing 737 MAX aircraft.³

What the company says

Boeing said the 737-10, which it called the largest 737 MAX, can carry up to 230 passengers in its maximum seating layout and typically 185 to 210 in two classes, with a range of up to 3,100 nautical miles. The company said its certification program included nearly 1,000 total test flights, more than 2,000 total flight hours and 1,000 ground test hours. It said more than 30 customers have ordered 1,555 of the planes, and that the enhanced angle of attack system will become standard across the 737 MAX family. Boeing said it expects to begin deliveries in the coming months.⁴

Boeing also said customers have placed 7,350 orders for 737 MAX airplanes and that nearly 2,500 had been delivered through the end of September 2026.⁴

What officials said

“After extensive safety reviews – including thousands of hours of test flights – the team at the FAA is ready to approve this critical aircraft for sale,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy said in the FAA’s release. FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said, “We will continue to hold Boeing to the highest safety standards as the company begins production of the 737 MAX-10.”¹

“Completing the certification program clears the path for us to deliver a Boeing airplane that will set a new standard in commercial aviation,” said Stephanie Pope, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes.⁴

What the records do not show

• The FAA’s release does not list each design change it required or say which NTSB recommendations they answer.¹
• Neither the FAA release nor the 2025 notice gives calendar dates for the one-year and three-year deadlines; the October 2027 and October 2029 dates are AVweb’s reporting, counted from the Oct. 20 approval.¹²³
• The test-flight, order and delivery figures come from Boeing; Duffy’s statement in the FAA release refers to “thousands of hours of test flights” without a count.⁴¹
• Neither release gives a date for the first 737-10 delivery or names the airline.¹⁴