Boeing Gets Limited Delegation for 737 MAX and 787 Airworthiness Certificates
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will allow limited delegation to Boeing for issuing airworthiness certificates for some 737 MAX and 787 airplanes starting on Sept. 29, 2025.
An airworthiness certificate confirms an aircraft is safe to operate. The FAA notes that the organization is allowing this step forward due to confidence in its ability to maintain the safety of the operation.
This decision follows a review of Boeing’s ongoing production quality. The FAA will keep overseeing Boeing’s production processes, including additional surveillance by FAA inspectors.
For example, there will be more FAA inspectors performing tasks like:
- Observing critical assembly stages
- Examining trends
- Conducting quality assurance to ensure approved type design and engineering requirements
- Assessing all activities for Boeing’s continuous improvement of its Safety Management System (SMS)
- Observing Boeing’s safety culture to confirm employees feel safe reporting safety issues
Boeing and the FAA will issue airworthiness certificates on alternating weeks.
The FAA’s Organization Designation Authorization (ODA) program gives authorized organizations permission to perform certification functions on behalf of the FAA, such as issuing airworthiness and production certifications for aircraft.
In May, the FAA renewed Boeing’s Organization Designation Authorization (ODA) for three years effective June 1, 2025.
The FAA stopped allowing Boeing to issue airworthiness certificates for 737 MAX airplanes in 2019 during their return to service following the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines crashes, and for Boeing 787 airplanes in 2022 because of production quality issues.