Boeing Acknowledges Lengthy Certification Process for 737-7 Max

A Boeing executive said that the certification of the Boeing 737 MAX-7 is taking “a considerable amount of time” due to new documentation requirements, according to a report by Reuters.

According to Mike Fleming, the senior vice president of Development Programs and Customer Support at Boeing, the certification of the 737 MAX-7 is taking “a considerable amount of time”, with the United States (US) Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requiring a larger number of documents than previously requested.

Fleming continued that the aircraft manufacturer is readying the final documents to gain the regulator’s approval for the aircraft to fly commercially. Boeing expects that the 737 MAX-7 will be certified by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, the 737 MAX-10 should be certified in 2024, with Boeing being “close” to gaining FAA approval to begin certification flights of the type, Fleming added.

In December 2022 both aircraft types were exempted from the Aircraft Certification, Safety, and Accountability Act (ACSAA) for modern cockpit alert systems. Lawmakers included certain changes in the Fiscal Year 2023 Omnibus Appropriations Bill, exempting aircraft whose Type Certificate (TC) application was submitted to the FAA prior to December 2020.

The 737 MAX-7 and MAX-10 failed to attain their TCs prior to the groundings of all Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, following the second fatal crash of an Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX-8 in March 2019. Then, aviation authorities gradually grounded the type days after the crash.

The FAA was the first authority to ‘unground’ the aircraft in November 2020.

Boeing resumed 737 MAX deliveries to customers and airlines began to restart operations with the type. However, China remained an outlier, only resuming commercial flights with the type in January 2023. No Chinese airline has taken delivery of a 737 MAX from Boeing since the groundings.