SEATTLE — Boeing’s 737 program received positive and negative news from the Federal Aviation Administration in the last 24 hours.
The positive stems from the 737-10 securing FAA flight certification. The negative involves a FAA airworthiness directive (AD) involving how passenger seats on 453 MAX jets registered to airlines in the U.S. are bolted to floor tracks within the cabin.
The FAA says for certain 737-8, 737-9, and 737-8200 airplanes, passenger seat assemblies were not correctly installed in the seat tracks. The remedy, according to the FAA, is detailed inspection of the seat track fittings of each left and right side track-mounted passenger seat assembly for correct installation.
Boeing notified the airlines flying these 453 jets on December 10, 2025, issuing guidance about the potential safety concerns involving the seat attachment, according to a Boeing spokesperson. CNBC reports that Boeing supports the FAA making that guidance mandatory with yesterday’s AD. Outside the US, nearly 2,300 737 Max jets are in service globally but the FAA only issues ADs for jets flying within the United States.
The safety concern with the seat attachment is that the assemblies could disengage from the seat tracks during an increased load, turbulence, or an emergency landing, according to the FAA.
Meanwhile, Boeing’s 737-10 successfully completed final FAA flight certification yesterday, after nearly 1,000 flights and more than 2,000 flight hours. That completes the first of three legs for the 737-10 program to achieve full FAA certification. The airplane departed from and returned to King County International Airport at Boeing Field for the final test flight.
Boeing says the 737-10 and 737-7 programs remain on the path toward certification in 2026 and customer deliveries in 2027.
With the flight certification now 100% complete, the next steps are Development Assurance Reviews–phase 4–which is 60% complete and System Safety Assessments which are 32% complete, according to Boeing.
In a company press release, Dan Mangel, the Boeing pilot who flew the final 737-10 test flight, said, “This was an important flight for me. I did the first flight of this particular airplane four years ago and this is the final certification test flight of the Boeing inventory for this airplane. So, I got to see the airplane from one end to the other.”
The test scope validated the full spectrum of certification requirements, says Boeing, including main landing gear, brakes on wet runways and maximum‑energy stops, the 737 Engine Anti‑Ice (EAI) solution, and the enhanced Angle of Attack (eAoA) system to prove safety and performance.
“This milestone reflects the intense, detailed work across flight, systems and ground testing,” said Capt. Bill Quashnock, deputy chief pilot across the 737 programs. “We validated new systems and confirmed they perform under all foreseeable conditions.”
The test schedule included validation of an update to the 737 Engine Anti-Ice (EAI) system after Boeing identified rare conditions that could cause overheating without either pilot intervention or design change. Tests also advanced the enhanced Angle of Attack (eAoA) opens in a new tab system, intended to simplify flight‑deck cues and reduce erroneous warnings. Both EAI and eAoA will be introduced in production for all 737 MAX models and retrofitted across the in‑service fleet.
There were three flight-test airplanes in the 737-10 campaign — known as 1G001, 1G002 and 1G003 — and the team often used them in parallel.
“These test airplanes have proven efficient and reliable throughout the testing program,” Chris Payne, vice president and general manager of 737 Development Programs, said. “There were multiple days we turned all three for flight testing on the same days.”
Eventually, each test airplane will enter refurbishment to convert it from flight-test configuration into customer ready airplanes, including removal of test instrumentation, cabin installation, new paint and interior finishing ahead of delivery.
Last week, Reuters reported Deputy FAA Administrator, Chris Rocheleau, indicated he expected 777X certification shortly after the two MAX planes.