Boeing says it plans to sell 737 MAX very soon

The head of commercial operations said Boeing is planning to sell its best-selling 737 MAX airliners very soon.

Stan Deal, CEO of 737 MAX, said that production of the aircraft will be increased above its current level of 31 jets per month. He said the company is working with the Federal Aviation Administration FAA to complete the final certification of the new 737 MAX 7 model.

Deal said that we had a handful less than a handful left to go to the FAA. We are working on a couple of issues around those submittals. I want them to be perfect, I want the FAA to feel comfortable and give them time to review. Boeing expects to complete FAA certification later this year and that the first delivery of the new aircraft will occur this year as well.

A 2020 law required an extensive upgrade to the 737 MAX's crew alert system is required to get the FAA certification before the jets can that acquire them, and Boeing initially thought the MAX 7 and MAX 10 models would complete certification by the end of December 2022.

The certification took longer than anticipated, but Congress approved a waiver to prevent Boeing from having to cancel the new airliners as the deadline approached. The waiver requires that MAX 7 jets be retrofitted with two fixes designed to improve the flight control system.

The safety improvements include the use of a third sensor to measure the angle of attack to negate false readings from a single sensor, and a switch that allows pilots to turn off an erroneous stall warning. Both are intended to mitigate issues that arisen during the fatal crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 and make it harder for pilots to take the corrective action.

The won't need to be retrofitted like the new MAX 7 and the existing MAX 8 and MAX 9 jets because they're being designed and tested with the updated system incorporated. The FAA is expected to have certification of the MAX 10 jets later this year.

By the end of 2026, Boeing is planning to increase the production rate for MAX jets to 50 per month.