Why is the 737 max 10 not certified?

The MAX 10 first flew in June 2021 and is the longest 737 ever built at 43.8 m, with semi-levered main landing gear that lets it rotate at a steeper angle without striking the tail. Its approval sits behind the MAX 7's, because the FAA works through the shorter variant first and the findings then flow to the stretch. Both were also caught by a 2020 law requiring modern crew alerting on types certified after December 2022; Congress granted these two variants a specific extension at the end of that year, tied to flight-deck safety improvements, so that particular obstacle is legislatively settled.

The open technical item is shared with the rest of the family. The LEAP-1B nacelle inlet can overheat if anti-ice is left running in dry air, and the FAA restricts crews of in-service aircraft to five minutes of use in those conditions. A procedure is tolerable for aeroplanes already certified, but a new variant cannot be approved on that basis, so a redesigned inlet is required first. Boeing sought a temporary exemption for the MAX 7 in 2023 and withdrew it in January 2024.

Since the door-plug failure on an Alaska Airlines MAX 9 in January 2024 the FAA has capped 737 production, expanded its presence in Boeing's factories and tightened the delegated authority under which the manufacturer performs much of its own compliance work. Certification now moves at the pace of audits rather than flight testing. United and Delta, which hold the largest MAX 10 orders, have rebuilt their fleet plans around later deliveries.