Max 10 faces delays that may trigger costly changes

Bloomberg

Boeing Co’s program to certify a new version of its 737 Max jet is running behind schedule and may not meet an end-of-year deadline, aviation regulators warned in a letter.
The Max 10, an extended version of the company’s flagship single-aisle jet that was grounded in 2019 after two fatal crashes, must be approved by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) by December or it could face a costly redesign.
The FAA is concerned the program “will be significantly challenged” to meet the deadline, it said in a letter sent to Boeing. The letter asked the planemaker to submit a new projected timeline for seeking the federal agency’s approvals.
The letter was described to Bloomberg News by a person familiar with its contents who asked not to be identified because of its sensitive contents.
“We continue to work transparently with the FAA to provide the information they need and remain committed to meeting their expectations,” Boeing said in an emailed statement. “Safety remains the driving factor in this effort.”
Any extended delay to the Max 10, Boeing’s largest single-aisle jet, could ripple through to customers such as United Airlines Holdings Inc. The Chicago-based carrier is due to take 109 of the aircraft from Boeing next year, Sheila Kahyaoglu, an analyst with Jefferies, said in a report.
The planemaker has at least 568 Max 10 on order, according to a Bloomberg Intelligence analysis of Cirium data. Boeing doesn’t disclose its order tallies for individual Max models. The medium-sized Max 8 is the most popular member of the narrow-body family, with 2,068 of the jets on order.
The Aircraft Certification Reform and Accountability Act, passed by Congress in December 2020 in the wake of the Max crashes that killed 346 people, required updated safety designs for aircraft. But it granted Boeing time to complete its work on the Max 10 before the new standards took effect.
Since the Max 10 is designed to function identically to earlier Max models — which are back in service after extensive updates to flight control systems — having to make additional changes could add new costs. It would also potentially make the jet less compatible with other Max models, requiring additional pilot training and other complexities at airlines. Congress would have to amend the law to give Boeing more time if it fails to meet the deadline on the Max 10 by the close of this year.