Boeing expects the smaller variant of the 737 MAX family, the 7, to be certified by the end of the year, while the larger version, the MAX 10, would not be approved until the first half of 2023.
The manufacturer is racing against the clock: December 31 is the deadline included in the last reform to the requirements -approved in 2020- which allowed the aircraft to be certified without bringing its pilot warning systems up to modern standards. If it does not get approval before then, it will either have to comply with the new requirements (something extremely difficult) or lobby for a new extension.
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In that regard, John Dyson, a marketing specialist at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, told Reuters that «the 737 MAX 7 would be certified first and the MAX 10 should follow just a few months later.» He also indicated that the manufacturer was «in talks» with legislators and regulators to try to obtain an extension to the deadline. The aim is to ensure that all aircraft in the MAX family have a common cockpit and share the same warning system.
The MAX’s main customer, Ryanair, noted that Boeing appeared to have accepted that it would not be able to certify the type before the end of the year. «I think Boeing has already assumed it won’t get certification by the end of the year, but I suspect Congress will approve an extension until 2023,» said Michael O’Leary, CEO of the Irish airline. «It makes no sense to ask a company like Boeing to redesign the cabin of its best-selling model,» the executive added.
The operational consequences for airlines in the event that the MAX 10 ends up with a different cabin to the other variants would be practically a death sentence for the type, already struggling to outsell its competition, the Airbus A321neo.
