The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has just certified the Boeing 737 MAX 7, which is the smallest variant of the 737 MAX family. This is a development that Southwest Airlines has been anticipating for years, but that’s about the only airline that cares.
Boeing 737 MAX 7 finally cleared to fly passengers
The FAA has just issued an amended type certificate and updated Production Limitation Record for the Boeing 737 MAX 7. The initial hope was for this to be issued in 2019, so we’re only around seven years behind schedule. Here’s how the FAA describes this approval:
The approval reflects years of sustained work to resolve complex technical issues and complete a thorough review of the airplane’s design and supporting safety analyses. Throughout the process, the FAA performed or directly reviewed significant work involving flight controls, system safety assessments, human factors, flightcrew alerting, and other novel, complex, or safety-critical areas, while also requiring testing, design changes, and additional analysis where necessary.
Before granting approval, the FAA required the MAX-7 to incorporate key improvements that address requirements in the Aircraft Certification, Safety, and Accountability Act and NTSB recommendations, including updates to the flight-control software, flightcrew alerting system, and a redesigned engine anti-ice system. These changes provide pilots clearer information and warnings and prevent the engine inlet from overheating and potentially weakening the surrounding structure.
This is a huge and much needed win for Boeing, which has obviously been struggling in recent years, particularly with new aircraft certification. The 737 MAX 8 and 737 MAX 9 have been certified for years, while the expectation is that the 737 MAX 10 will be certified in the coming months.
For those not familiar, the 737 MAX 7 is the smallest and longest range variant of the four planes. It can seat 135-160 passengers, with a range of up to 3,800 nautical miles.
The 737 MAX 7 is a plane designed for Southwest
Boeing 737 MAX 7 deliveries should be able to start soon, and there’s really only one airline that has committed to a meaningful number of these planes. Southwest has 269 737 MAX 7s on order, which will feature 150 seats.
This has been a key component in Southwest’s fleet renewal strategy for years. The 737 MAX 7 is the updated version of the 737-700, and the airline has 288 of these planes in its fleet. So Southwest is basically planning a 1:1 fleet renewal, and who knows, maybe we’ll see even more of the planes ordered.
I’ve always found it interesting how Southwest is an all-Boeing 737 operator, but is exclusively focused on the two smaller variants of the plane. The airline never picked up the 737-900, and also never ordered the 737 MAX 9 or 737 MAX 10.
The way to think about it is that the larger variants add capacity but reduce range. What’s so great about the bigger variants is that their incremental operating costs are so low, so you’re able to add quite a few seats without much additional expense, assuming you don’t need the range.
The question is always whether you can fill those seats profitably. After all, flying around empty seats doesn’t exactly help anyone. I totally understand Southwest’s desire for having a smaller aircraft type for markets without a huge amount of demand. But I also find it interesting how the airline has had no interest in larger variants, since you’d think there are lots of markets where the economics would work.
It’s quite telling that literally no other airline has ordered a substantial number of 737 MAX 7s, so this plane is very much to Southwest as the Airbus A380 was to Emirates. Other airlines are focused on the larger 737 MAX variants, and the more popular 737 MAX 8 sized plane is the Airbus A220-300.
Bottom line
The Boeing 737 MAX 7 has finally been certified, roughly seven years behind schedule. Obviously Boeing’s certification woes have been really rough in recent years, so this is great new for the plane maker. The 737 MAX 7 is the smallest but longest range version of the 737 family, so it has a unique niche.
However, only Southwest actually sees value with the plane, given that it has hundreds on order, while no other airlines have committed to a substantial number of these planes.
What do you make of this 737 MAX 7 certification?