The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the United States officially informed Congress on Friday (July 17) that it will authorize Boeing to issue airworthiness certificates for every Boeing 737 MAX and 787 aircraft it produces starting next week.
According to an email seen by Reuters, the FAA informed Congress that the decision was made after months of “thorough data and safety reviews,” which indicated that Boeing’s production quality has remained consistent, and the FAA is confident in Boeing’s ability to issue airworthiness certificates under FAA supervision.
This move is a significant milestone for the aircraft manufacturer as it is currently working on ramping up production.
Under US regulations, every aircraft must obtain an airworthiness certificate before being delivered to airlines, demonstrating compliance with safety standards and legal flight operations. Normally, the FAA authorizes aircraft manufacturers like Boeing to complete parts of the inspection process and issue the certificate on behalf of the FAA, a practice commonly known in the industry as “ticketing authority.”
However, following the second fatal MAX crash in Ethiopia in 2019, the FAA revoked Boeing’s authority to issue airworthiness certificates for individual MAX aircraft. In 2022, due to production quality issues, the FAA again revoked Boeing’s authority to issue airworthiness certificates for the 787 aircraft, and instead, FAA conducts inspections and issues airworthiness certificates for each aircraft.
In September 2025, the FAA allowed Boeing to resume issuing airworthiness certificates for certain 737 MAX and 787 Dreamliner aircraft. During this period, Boeing and the FAA took turns issuing certificates every other week. This is seen as Boeing regaining trust from regulatory authorities after years of safety crises.
The information in this article was referenced from reports by Reuters.