Boeing 737 MAX 7

The 737 MAX 7 is the shortest version of the 737 MAX family and the successor to the 737-700. As first conceived it was based directly on the -700, but at the July 2016 Farnborough Air Show Boeing announced a redesign: the MAX 7 would carry two more seat rows than the 737-700, for 138 seats. Compared to the -700 it has a pair of over-wing exits instead of a single door, a 46-inch (120 cm) longer aft fuselage and a 30-inch (76 cm) longer forward fuselage, structural re-gauging and strengthening, and systems and interior changes to suit the greater length, and it uses the wing and landing gear of the MAX 8. Like the whole family, it is powered by CFM International LEAP-1B engines. Boeing expected it to fly 1,000 nmi (1,900 km) farther than the -700 with 18% lower fuel costs per seat, and to carry 12 more passengers 400 nmi (740 km) farther than the A319neo with seven percent lower operating costs per seat.

Production of the first 65-foot (20 m) wing spar for the MAX 7 began in October 2017. Assembly of the first flight-test aircraft began on November 22, 2017, and it rolled out of the factory on February 5, 2018. It first flew on March 16, 2018, from the Renton factory in Washington: over three hours it flew over the state, reached 250 knots (460 km/h) and 25,000 feet (7,600 m), performed a low approach, systems checks and an in-flight engine restart, and landed at Boeing's flight test centre at Moses Lake. That year one of the prototypes took part in Boeing's Quiet Technology Demonstrator 3 programme, in which a NASA engine inlet designed to reduce noise was tested over an acoustic array at Moses Lake.

Entry into service with launch operator Southwest Airlines was originally expected in January 2019, but it was repeatedly delayed. The MAX crisis and its long grounding stalled everything; only after the recertification of the MAX 8 and MAX 9 did Boeing resume work on certifying the MAX 7 and MAX 10. It then ran into the Aircraft Safety and Certification Reform Act of 2020, passed in response to the crashes, which requires an engine-indicating and crew-alerting system (EICAS) on airliners type-certificated after December 31, 2022. In November 2022 Boeing announced further delays, and in December Congress agreed to let the MAX 7 and MAX 10 be certified without EICAS, provided a third angle-of-attack sensor was installed on all MAX types, as European and Canadian regulators had already demanded, together with a switch to disable the stick shaker, which had distracted pilots during the crashes.

In August 2023 another obstacle appeared: if the engine anti-ice system was left on after icing was no longer an issue, it could overheat the carbon composite inlet of the nacelle until it broke and fell off. In December 2023 Boeing requested an exemption from fixing this on the MAX 7 before entry into service, but withdrew it in January 2024 at the request of Congress, after the Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 accident. In January 2025 it requested another time-limited exemption for the stall management yaw damper (SMYD) system with the required angle-of-attack enhancements. Boeing completed the anti-ice redesign in November 2025, and on August 3, 2026 the FAA finally certified the MAX 7, issuing an amended type certificate and authorizing production while continuing on-site oversight of Boeing's manufacturing.

The delays weighed on its customers. Southwest had ordered a total of 234 MAX 7s; WestJet converted its 22 into MAX 8s. In 2022 Southwest took early delivery of MAX 8s to make up for the delay, and in January 2024 it removed the MAX 7 from its fleet planning, while saying it remained committed to the type and was willing to wait. After certification, the first delivery was expected to go to a Boeing Business Jet customer.