The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has certified Boeing's 737 Max 10 aircraft, the largest in the 737 Max family, the aircraft manufacturer announced Tuesday. Deliveries will begin "in the coming months."
The aircraft will have the capacity to accommodate up to 230 passengers, and it has a range of 365 nautical miles more than competitors without auxiliary fuel tanks, according to Boeing, which added that more than 30 customers globally have purchased the 737-10 model, totaling 1,555 airplanes to date.
The model initially was to start flying in 2020, but it was delayed amid additional scrutiny following the October 2018 Lion Air crash and March 2019 Ethiopian Airlines crash, and other safety issues that grounded all Boeing 737 Max aircraft for a period.
"The Max 10 is a big part of our upgauging strategy," United Airlines CFO Mike Leskinen said during a Wednesday morning earnings call. "It's going to be a very competitive aircraft for our network."
United as of June 30 had 167 firm commitments for the Max 10 aircraft, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing. CEO Scott Kirby said the first of those would be delivered next year.
"Next year we're going to have 22 [Max 10] deliveries, and we plan to start taking them sometime late in the first quarter," Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci said on a Wednesday earnings call. "The first tranche of airplanes are going to be in our standard domestic configuration. Then in 2028, the second tranche is going to be in what we call our Aurora configuration with the lie-flat seats, which we're really excited about."
Among the additional U.S. carriers with Boeing 737 Max 10 orders are American Airlines, which ordered the planes in March 2024, and Delta Air Lines, which ordered 100 of the aircraft in July 2022.