Boeing’s long-delayed 737 MAX 10 is edging closer to certification. Airline Geeks reported on 19 September 2026 that chief executive Kelly Ortberg told Morgan Stanley’s Laguna Conference the largest MAX variant should be certified by the FAA “very soon,” with flight testing complete and only documentation work left.
Ortberg said that when he left Seattle the day before the conference, Boeing had about three deliverables remaining. He described the FAA’s documentation review as larger than the work on the MAX 7, but said the company is coordinating closely with the agency. Flight testing for the MAX 10 is finished, he added, and “all the real work is done now.” The European Union Aviation Safety Agency flew the MAX 10 last week and was “very complimentary,” according to his remarks.
Boeing has already started building its first production MAX 10s in Washington state. The variant accounts for roughly 30 percent of the company’s current backlog, which is why certification timing matters for airlines waiting on the stretched jet. The MAX 10’s target date has slipped for years because of supply-chain stress, the aftershocks of the 2018–19 MAX grounding, and anti-ice system issues. Progress has accelerated over the past two years, but operators still need a stamp before revenue service.
Ortberg also updated investors on the 777X. He said initial ordered units have not changed and that customer concerns about technology obsolescence are being handled in contract discussions. 777X flight tests continue, though the type still lacks ETOPS approval; Ortberg blamed a mid-seal issue on the engines for the holdup. That parallel delay matters because some lessors and airlines are weighing MAX growth against widebody timing in the same capital plans.
For airlines, a MAX 10 certificate unlocks the highest-capacity member of the MAX family on dense short- and medium-haul routes. Carriers that ordered the jet—including groups that recently exercised MAX options—have been bridging with MAX 8s and older narrowbodies. Certification “very soon” does not publish a calendar day, but Ortberg’s language is the clearest public signal in months that the documentation phase is the remaining gate.
Airports that planned gate and jetbridge work around a longer MAX 10 fuselage will also watch the FAA clock. The airplane’s extra seating only helps if it can enter airline training and cabin-definition programs on a predictable date. Until certification lands, crews cannot finish type-specific procedures and lessors cannot firm delivery-month assumptions. Production tooling for the stretched fuselage is already in the factory flow, which is why unfinished paperwork keeps finished airplanes from leaving the line with customers.
Investors will watch whether “very soon” turns into an FAA action in the coming weeks. Until then, the facts on the table from the Laguna appearance are straightforward: MAX 10 flight tests are done, a handful of deliverables remain, EASA has flown the airplane, production jets are already on the line, and Boeing is still working through 777X ETOPS. The MAX 10 story is no longer about whether the jet can fly—it is about when the paperwork clears.
Sources: Airline Geeks.
Comments
Loading comments…