FAA Certifies the 737-10 as Avolon Finalizes 140
The FAA issued a 737 MAX-10 type certificate on 20 October 2026. On 4 November Boeing said Avolon finalized a purchase of 140 737-10s. EASA's current 737 data sheet does not list the model.
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Updated November 10, 2026
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News. Two documents now sit downstream of the 19 October notes on this aircraft. On 20 October 2026 the FAA said it had issued certification for the Boeing 737 MAX-10. On 4 November 2026 Boeing said lessor Avolon had finalized a purchase of 140 737-10 airplanes.
This is a follow-up, not a second draft of either earlier piece. FAA Clears Path for 737 MAX 10 reported that the type-certification board had finished and that formal certification was expected within days. Avolon Orders 250 Boeing and Airbus Jets reported a 250-aircraft Boeing and Airbus commitment that included 140 737 MAX jets, plus Airbus narrowbodies and A330neos. The 4 November Boeing release does not mention those Airbus aircraft and does not restate a 250-jet total. It says the 140 Boeing airplanes are 737-10s and that the purchase is finalized. Read the October piece for the wider commitment. Read this one for the FAA certificate and for Boeing's later statement of the 737-10 order.
What the FAA said it issued
The FAA press-office release is datelined Everett and dated Tuesday, 20 October 2026. It says the agency issued an amended type certificate, confirming the aircraft complies with applicable design and safety requirements, and an updated production limitation record, which authorizes production. It says that with production approved, the aircraft can be delivered to domestic and foreign carriers.
The release says that before approval the FAA required the MAX-10 to incorporate improvements addressing the Aircraft Certification, Safety, and Accountability Act and NTSB recommendations, including flight-control updates with an enhanced angle-of-attack sensor. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy is quoted saying the FAA was ready to approve the aircraft "after extensive safety reviews — including thousands of hours of test flights." Administrator Bryan Bedford is quoted saying the decision followed a review of design and safety requirements and that the agency will keep holding Boeing to those standards as production of the 737 MAX-10 begins.
The release does not name a launch operator, a first delivery month, or a European validation. Those points are outside this document.
What Boeing said Avolon finalized
Boeing's 4 November release, datelined Seattle, says Boeing and Avolon announced that the lessor finalized its purchase of 140 737-10 airplanes. Boeing calls it a record 737 MAX order by a lessor and says it raises Avolon's 737 MAX backlog to more than 240 airplanes. The release also says lessors have placed firm orders for more than 230 737-10 airplanes in 2026, five times the lessor backlog for the largest 737 MAX variant at the end of 2025.
Boeing says the 737-10 can seat up to 230 passengers and has a range of 3,100 nautical miles (5,740 kilometres). It says the airplane offers the best per-seat economics of any single-aisle airplane. That economics line is Boeing's description, not an independent comparison in the FAA certificate.
Avolon chief executive Andy Cronin, in the Boeing release, says the order strengthens the lessor's long-term delivery pipeline and that the 737-10 combines economics with the capacity airlines require. Brad McMullen, Boeing senior vice president of commercial sales and marketing, says Avolon's 737 MAX portfolio lets airline customers modernize fleets. The release's Avolon boilerplate says that, as of 30 September 2026, Avolon worked with 138 airlines in 62 countries and had an owned, managed and committed fleet of 1,092 aircraft.
EASA validation is not on the current 737 data sheet
An FAA certificate is the U.S. approval. EASA type-certificate data sheet EASA.IM.A.120, Issue 30, dated 28 October 2026, is the European sheet consulted for this draft. Its model list for the Max family is the 737-8, the 737-9 and the 737-8200. Section 8 of that issue is headed "737-8, 737-9, 737-8200." The sheet does not list a 737-10. Issue 30 is dated eight days after the FAA's 20 October announcement.
This draft did not find an EASA sentence that uses the word "pending." The evidence for the European status is the model list on that data sheet: the 737-10 is not on it. A European operator cannot treat the FAA release's reference to foreign carriers as an EASA validation. Boeing's order announcement likewise does not say EASA has validated the type.
What this does not redo
The 19 October certification note covered the software question that was open before the certificate. This follow-up does not reopen that record. The 19 October Avolon note covered a mixed Boeing and Airbus commitment and the rest of that week's leasing news. This follow-up does not restate those Airbus figures, the options, or the other lessors in that piece. If the 140 737-10s in the November release are the 140 737 MAX aircraft in the October report, Boeing's 4 November text is the document that names the variant and calls the purchase finalized. The October article remains the place that reports the Airbus side.
