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The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has restored Boeing’s authority to issue airworthiness certificates for all newly built 737 MAX and 787 aircraft. This marks another milestone in the manufacturer’s recovery following years of heightened regulatory oversight. The change takes effect July 20th and comes after months of FAA reviews found Boeing’s production quality met the agency’s standards.
Boeing lost the ability to fully self-certify new aircraft after a series of safety and quality concerns, including the fatal Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019, as well as subsequent manufacturing issues affecting both the 737 MAX and 787 programs.
In September 2025, the FAA began gradually restoring the authority by allowing Boeing to issue airworthiness certificates for some aircraft on alternating weeks while FAA inspectors handled the others. According to the agency, the results over the past eight months showed comparable production quality regardless of whether Boeing or the FAA issued the certificates. Based on those findings, the FAA concluded it is safe to return full certification responsibility to Boeing.
The decision does not reduce federal oversight. The FAA said it will continue conducting inspections, audits, and monitoring of Boeing’s production system, including critical assembly work, manufacturing quality trends, and compliance with engineering and certification requirements. An airworthiness certificate confirms that an aircraft meets all applicable safety standards and is approved to enter commercial service.
FAA Administrator, Bryan Bedford, said:
Safety drives everything we do, and this step forward is only possible because we are confident it can be done safely. Our inspectors will continue rigorous oversight of Boeing’s production while focusing more of their time where it has the greatest impact—identifying and addressing potential risks earlier in the manufacturing process.”
Anthony’s Take: While Boeing will once again issue those certificates at the end of the production process, the FAA emphasized that it will continue closely monitoring the manufacturer’s operations as Boeing works to rebuild confidence following years of regulatory scrutiny and manufacturing challenges.
(Image Credits: Boeing.)
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
