Overview
- The FAA's Type Certification Board completed a final review and U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is expected to announce agency approval during a planned visit to Everett, sources report.
- The agency told Boeing that a disclosed flight‑management software glitch does not pose a safety blocker for certification; the issue involves a navigation software update that can stop automated flight‑path tracking in certain go‑around conditions and could increase pilot workload.
- About 1,500 MAX 10s are on order, the variant makes up roughly 30% of Boeing’s 737 backlog, and Boeing already has several MAX 10 airframes built and waiting for deliveries that the certificate would permit to proceed.
- Boeing has deferred comment to the FAA, some airlines previously said they would not accept jets with the affected software version, and Boeing is preparing interim procedures plus a permanent software update.
- The decision comes under tightened FAA scrutiny that followed the 2018–19 MAX crashes and a 2024 cabin panel incident, and it arrives as Boeing continues to delay certification and deliveries of the larger 777‑9 into 2027.