FAA Could Certify Boeing 737-10 Next Week After Key Safety Review

WASHINGTON — The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) could certify Boeing's 737-10 as soon as the week of October 19 after completing a key safety review, Reuters reported October 16, citing three people familiar with the matter.

The Type Certification Board review is a final step before the agency decides whether to approve the aircraft. Asked about timing, the FAA told Reuters that safety determines the schedule. Boeing referred questions to the regulator.

For passengers, the more useful date comes later. Boeing's July results forecast certification in 2026 and first deliveries in 2027. Approval next week would therefore meet a regulatory target without bringing forward the aircraft's first handover automatically.

The distinction has become easy to lose during a development program that has produced successive forecasts, test milestones and technical setbacks. The original commercial-service target was 2020. In October 2026, the design still awaits the FAA's decision.

In an industry awash with announcements, memoranda of understanding, tentative dates and statements of intent, is this latest reporting more of the same?

The Air Current and Reuters describe a completed regulatory review, a more concrete development than another manufacturer’s target date. Approval as early as next week, however, remains a source-based expectation. The FAA has yet to announce its decision.

The distinction matters when looking back at how often the 737-10 has appeared close to approval.

How the Certification Schedule Changed

The chronology below separates forecasts from completed work. A planned service date is not an FAA certification deadline, and permission to begin a test phase is not approval of the aircraft.

The changing targets reflect different kinds of unfinished work. Congress addressed a crew-alerting certification requirement. Boeing then had to develop and demonstrate engineering changes, complete testing, and close the documentation supporting compliance. Boeing says the anti-ice changes followed its identification of rare conditions that could cause overheating without pilot intervention or a design change. A late software assessment added another obstacle in September 2026.

July's completion of planned test flights, previously covered by Airways, therefore left substantial work on the ground. Boeing listed its fourth development assurance review as 60% complete and system safety assessments as 32% complete at that point. Those were July status measures, not a description of what remains unfinished today.

What FAA Certification Actually Approves

The 737-10 is a derivative of an existing aircraft family. The relevant design approval is an amended type certificate. FAA regulations establish how changes to a type design must demonstrate compliance.

That approval establishes that the design meets the applicable certification requirements. It does not establish that every aircraft already built conforms to the approved configuration, or that a particular airline is ready to operate it.

Separate airworthiness-certificate requirements concern the individual aircraft, including conformity to the approved design and a condition for safe operation. For an airline, that means a completed aircraft and its records still matter after the design decision.

There is a further distinction between those regulatory findings and the commercial handover. Boeing's published description of new-aircraft delivery checks includes ground testing, flights by Boeing and the customer, and a customer inspection. Its cabin, equipment and configuration must match the agreed and approved delivery standard. An airline cannot put an unfinished aircraft into passenger service simply because the underlying model has been certified.

The Steps Between Approval and the First Passenger Flight

The route to service has several connected workstreams. Some can be prepared before certification; others depend on the final approved design and the condition of the individual aircraft.

For U.S. airlines, Part 121 requires an approved training program and current material for aircraft types and their variations. Existing 737 experience can be relevant, but the actual training obligation depends on the approved differences and the crew's qualifications. This reporting does not establish a final 737-10 course length or simulator requirement.

Proving flights also need careful treatment. Section 121.163 sets requirements for specified introductions and materially altered aircraft, with provisions for FAA authorization. It does not support assigning every MAX customer the same automatic number of proving-flight hours.

Before a U.S. carrier operates an aircraft, registration, an appropriate airworthiness certificate and an airworthy condition are among the requirements. These obligations apply to the individual aircraft and operation, beyond approval of the design.

For overseas customers, validation of U.S. design approvals by foreign authorities is another regulatory consideration. FAA certification alone should not be presented as every country's authorization to introduce the aircraft. The reporting reviewed here does not establish the timing of each foreign validation.

United, Delta and Other Customers Have Different Timetables

An FAA decision would be common to the program, but airline delivery positions and induction plans differ. The available customer disclosures describe several distinct horizons.

The United comparison also shows why old order announcements can mislead. In April 2024, the airline disclosed conversions of some MAX 10 orders to MAX 9s, covering deliveries from 2025 through 2027. That was an airline response to delivery uncertainty, rather than a new FAA certification forecast.

When Can Airlines Start Earning Revenue With the 737-10?

The documented expectations point to 2027 for several initial customers, with Alaska providing a spring passenger-service window. They do not establish a universal interval between certification and revenue flying.

An operator that has completed its preparation and receives a conforming aircraft can progress differently from a customer awaiting delivery slots, equipment approvals or training. The workstreams should not be added together as though each starts only after the previous one ends.

Out beloved industry, and our coverage of it, is inherently a forward-looking one. The next reporting test is therefore twofold: whether the FAA issues the amended type certificate, and whether Boeing and its customers then confirm aircraft delivery and passenger-service dates. Those are the timeframes that will show when the certification milestone turns into usable airline capacity.