Boeing's Smallest 737 Max Variant Finally Achieves FAA Certification After A Decade Of Trying

If at first you don't succeed, try again and fail again, then try again and fail again, but then finally try again and get there. After nearly eight years of whiffing safety tests and watching its larger sibling-variants crash or rip apart, the Boeing 737 Max 7 has finally earned FAA certification. This means the government has deemed the aircraft safe for delivery to customers, who have been waiting a while. The Max 7 is the shortest and smallest variant of the 737 Max family, which has become Boeing's best-selling plane ever. The first models will go to Southwest Airlines, which helped reveal the existence of this variant all the way back in 2013.

It's yet another win for Boeing, which has been on a bit of a streak lately. In July, the plane manufacturer was granted permission to self-certify its own planes again; shortly before that, its FAA-mandated production cap for the 737 was raised to 47 (from a low of 38) per month. Given how bad things were for the company a few years ago, this is a pretty stellar turnaround. The hope, of course, is that its self-proclaimed new focus on safety continues even as production ramps up, across both old models and now the new Max 7. To make sure of that, the FAA says that they'll continue keeping inspectors at Boeing factories for now.

Compared to its 737 siblings, the Max 7 is smaller but can also go farther. Boeing says it can take up to 160 passengers and travel up to 3,800 nautical miles. By contrast, the currently flying Max 8 can fit up to 20 more people inside, but only go 3,500 nautical miles; the also currently flying Max 9 can get up to 195 passengers inside, but can only take them 3,300 miles. That makes the Max 7 exceptional for less-trafficked or longer routes. Boeing also says it's better for taking off from high altitudes and hot climates.

That said, the Max 7 has less than 300 orders waiting for it, the vast bulk of which are for Southwest. That's good news for the budget airline, which only operates 737s, many of which are aging relics from previous generations, per Simple Flying. For Boeing though, the Max 7 pales in comparison to the truly favored child: The Max 10, the biggest in the family at up to 210 passenger capacity, though only able to go 3,100 nautical miles. That has over 1,500 models on order, or nearly 25% of all unfilled 737 orders. If Boeing is going to take the fight to Airbus and its A320 family, it needs the Max 10 in the air. Now that the Max 7 has finally achieved certification, Boeing expects the Max 10 to do the same later this year. With luck, both aircraft will be flying customers by next year.