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Aviation · Wednesday, October 21, 2026

FAA certifies Boeing's 737 MAX 10 for airline delivery

The File desk · Oct. 21, 2026, 6:40 a.m. ET

Confirmed1 primary sources

Status

Confirmed from the Federal Aviation Administration newsroom release dated Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. The agency issued an amended type certificate and approved production. A Boeing statement was not opened.
  • Confirmed
    The FAA said it certified the Boeing 737 MAX-10 and, with production approved, the airplane can be delivered to U.S. and foreign airlines.
  • Confirmed
    Before approval, the FAA required improvements that include an enhanced angle-of-attack sensor in the flight-control system.
The largest Boeing 737 MAX can now be delivered to airlines. The Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday, Oct. 20, that it certified the 737 MAX-10 and approved production, after requiring an enhanced angle-of-attack sensor in the flight controls.1
Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy 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.” Administrator Bryan Bedford said the agency “will continue to hold Boeing to the highest safety standards as the company begins production of the 737 MAX-10.” Those sentences are theirs. This desk did not open a Boeing statement, so nothing here is the company's account of the airplane.1
The release is datelined Everett, Washington. It says that with production approved, the aircraft “can be delivered to domestic and foreign carriers.” The FAA issued an amended type certificate, which it says confirms the design meets the safety rules, and an updated Production Limitation Record, which authorizes production.1
Why it matters (Estimate). Estimate. Travelers will start seeing this jet once airlines take delivery, and carriers that ordered the largest 737 MAX can finally receive it. The release does not say which airline is first, or on which route. The page also does not print a clock time for the announcement.1
The FAA says it required the MAX-10 to include improvements addressing the and recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board. The change it names in the flight controls is an enhanced angle-of-attack sensor, the instrument that reads the airplane's pitch.
How we know

Notes

  1. 1.Federal Aviation Administration, “Federal Aviation Administration Issues Certification for Boeing 737 MAX-10,” Tuesday, October 20, 2026, Everett, Washington. Re-opened for this edition. https://www.faa.gov/newsroom/federal-aviation-administration-issues-certification-boeing-737-max-10 “the agency has issued the certification for Boeing's 737 MAX-10. With production approved, the aircraft – which includes new key safety features and reduced fuel consumption – can be delivered to domestic and foreign carriers.” “The FAA issued an amended type certificate, which confirms the aircraft complies with all applicable design and safety requirements, and an updated Production Limitation Record, which authorizes aircraft production.” “required the MAX-10 to incorporate key improvements that address requirements in the and NTSB recommendations, including updates to the flight-control system with an enhanced angle of attack (airplane pitch) sensor.” Sean P. Duffy: “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.” Bryan Bedford: “We will continue to hold Boeing to the highest safety standards as the company begins production of the 737 MAX-10.” No Boeing newsroom page was opened.

What is still unknown or disputed

  • Which airlines take the first deliveries, and when.
  • A Boeing statement was not opened.
  • The FAA page does not give a time of day for the announcement.

Primary sources

Every claim in this story is drawn from the documents below. If a fetch failed, that is recorded on the card.

  1. Source 1

    Federal Aviation Administration Issues Certification for Boeing 737 MAX-10

    Federal Aviation Administration · October 20, 2026

    The agency has issued the certification for Boeing's 737 MAX-10. With production approved, the aircraft can be delivered to domestic and foreign carriers. The FAA required an enhanced angle of attack sensor.

    https://www.faa.gov/newsroom/federal-aviation-administration-issues-certification-boeing-737-max-10

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