US approval was a key milestone for largest variant, but Boeing must now get customer deliveries underway and stabilise production
Team Perspective
Max Kingsley-Jones, Senior Consultant, Cirium Ascend Consultancy
Recent US Federal Aviation Administration approvals for the Boeing 737-7 and -10 Max signalled the start of the programme’s final stage of recovery, but there remain crucial tasks required to complete this process. These include wider approvals from international authorities and the start of the delivery process, both of which are expected in the coming months.
From a business perspective, the 737-7’s approval was just a staging post towards clearance for the 737-10. The latter, which is the largest Max variant, accounts for a third of the Max’s firm backlog, while the -7 makes up less than 4%. The -10 – which finally gives Boeing a competitor to the Airbus A321neo – is also the variant with broad appeal globally. Cirium data shows that after North America (47%), Europe will be the destination for around 30% of 737-10 deliveries, while a fifth is heading to Asia-Pacific. Europe is also the home for the 737-10’s third-largest customer, Ryanair, which has 150 firm orders, due to start arriving by spring 2027. (....)