FAA Restores Boeing Authority to Issue 737 MAX, 787 Airworthiness Certificates

‍WASHINGTON — The Federal Aviation Administration will again allow Boeing to issue airworthiness certificates for all newly produced 737 MAX and 787 aircraft, restoring a key delegation that had been removed after the MAX crashes and later 787 production-quality issues.

The FAA said the change follows months of safety review and will take effect next week. Boeing had already been allowed to issue some certificates on alternating weeks since September 2025, but the new decision restores the authority across all 737 MAX and 787 deliveries. The FAA announced the decision in a July 17 statement.

An airworthiness certificate is issued for an individual aircraft before it can be delivered and placed into service. The decision does not mean Boeing is certifying the 737 MAX or 787 type designs again from scratch; rather, it allows Boeing-authorized personnel, acting under FAA delegation, to sign off individual newly built aircraft as airworthy.

Authority Removed After MAX, 787 Issues

The FAA stopped allowing Boeing to issue airworthiness certificates for 737 MAX aircraft in 2019 following the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines crashes. The agency later removed Boeing’s authority for 787 aircraft in 2022 because of production-quality concerns, according to the FAA.

The decision restores part of Boeing’s delegated certification role at a time when the manufacturer is trying to stabilize production and increase deliveries of its two most important commercial aircraft programs.

Reuters reported that the FAA will allow Boeing to issue the certificates for all 737 MAX and 787 aircraft starting next week, calling the move a significant milestone as Boeing ramps up production.

FAA Says Oversight Will Continue

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said the agency is making the change because it is confident the process can be done safely.

“Safety drives everything we do, and this step forward is only possible because we are confident it can be done safely,” Bedford said in the FAA announcement. “Our inspectors will continue rigorous oversight of Boeing’s production while focusing more of their time where it has the greatest impact—identifying and addressing potential risks earlier in the manufacturing process.”

The FAA said its inspectors will continue surveillance of Boeing’s production system, including observation of critical assembly stages, review of production trends, checks that mechanics are performing work to approved type design and engineering requirements, and assessment of Boeing’s Safety Management System.

The agency also said inspectors will monitor Boeing’s safety culture, including whether employees can report safety issues without fear of retaliation.

Delivery Efficiency, With Scrutiny

For Boeing, the restoration of certificate authority could help reduce friction at the delivery stage, particularly as the company works through large 737 MAX and 787 backlogs.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Boeing shares moved higher after the decision, reflecting investor expectations that the change could support delivery flow.

The move comes as Boeing is also expanding 737 MAX production capacity. Earlier this month, Boeing opened its fourth 737 MAX production line at Everett, designed to support the program’s planned ramp toward 52 aircraft per month. Airways reported that the new North Line will replicate the build process and tooling used at Renton while beginning at low-rate initial production.

Optics

Operationally, the decision gives Boeing a more normal path for issuing airworthiness certificates on new 737 MAX and 787 deliveries, potentially easing part of the handoff from factory to airline. Symbolically, it marks another step in the FAA’s gradual return of responsibilities that were removed after years of heightened scrutiny.

But the change will also draw criticism because Boeing’s delegated authority sits at the center of broader questions about regulator-industry oversight after the MAX crashes, 787 production problems, and the Alaska Airlines 737-9 door-plug accident in 2024.

The FAA’s argument is that its inspectors can now focus more directly on production surveillance and earlier risk detection instead of issuing every certificate themselves. The test will be whether that model improves oversight while allowing Boeing to stabilize deliveries.

For airlines waiting on new aircraft, the decision may help delivery flow. For Boeing and the FAA, it raises a harder standard: proving that delegated authority can coexist with stronger, not weaker, production oversight.