Boeing confirms 737 MAX 10 will be built exclusively in Everett on former 747 line
July 29, 2025
Boeing has officially confirmed that the 737 MAX 10, the largest and most complex variant of its narrowbody family, will be produced exclusively at its Everett factory, a first for the single-aisle jet.
The announcement, made during Boeing’s Q2 2025 earnings call, clarifies long-standing speculation about how the airframer would allocate production of the MAX 10, which has faced multiple certification delays and presents greater assembly challenges than the smaller MAX 8 and 9.
“Predominantly, [the fourth line] will be focused on the dash 10 variant,” said Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg. “The dash 10 has the most change from all the other variants, so it will naturally flow through the factory at a slower pace. By isolating or providing that fourth line in Everett, it’ll allow us to let the three lines in Renton flow faster.”
Boeing had officially announced that it would convert the North Line in Everett, formerly used for the 747 and temporarily the 787, to a new production line for the 737. In May, at the Bernstein investor conference, Ortberg flagged that it could be used for the 737 MAX 10.
Now it seems, at least to begin with, the MAX 10 will only be built in Everett, marking the first time a narrowbody aircraft has been assembled at the site in its 58-year history.
Focus on stability at Renton as MAX output reaches FAA cap
Boeing met the 38 MAX a month FAA-imposed cap for the first time in May 2025. Now, it wants to ensure stability at the Renton plant to maintain that output without any decrease in quality.
“In the quarter, we achieved a rate of 38 airplanes per month, and we’re now focused on demonstrating stability at that rate,” said Ortberg. “I expect to be going to the FAA soon, to start the discussions on the rate increases.”
While Ortbeg didn’t give a date for requesting the rate increase, he stressed that nothing will change until production is consistently meeting internal key performance indicators. (KPIs).
These are tied to safety and quality, such as rework hours per airframe, travelled work at rollout, and ticketing, and everything is monitored by the FAA daily via data dashboards.
Quality improvements are starting to show. Travelled work, where a job gets shunted down the workstations, has reduced by 50%, and rework time per aircraft is improving steadily.
Widespread employee training, particularly on the 737 line, has reinforced inspection standards and given more frontline workers the authority to pause the line if an issue is detected.
Maintaining the status quo at Renton is crucial if Boeing is to have the rate cap removed, and shifting production of its newest narrowbody to a different factory avoids disrupting the existing line.
Boeing 737 MAX 10 certification pushed into 2026
Boeing confirmed that the certification of the MAX 10 and the MAX 7 had been pushed into 2026, largely because of unresolved work on the engine anti-icing system.
In 2023, Boeing found that if he system is activated for too long, especially in dry air conditions, it can cause thermal degradation of the engine inlet inner barrel. This could ultimately result in material failure or debris, potentially posing a safety hazard.
It’s not a problem unique to the MAX 7 and 10; indeed, the issue exists across all the MAX variants. But for the 7 and 10, it’s a certification blocker that requires a validated design fix. That design fix has, so far, not been forthcoming.
“This is a very delicate area that we’re dealing with around the inlet of the engines,” said Orford. “We’ve got several different design paths that we’ve been going down for solutions to correct the problem. The latest delay is driven by the fact that we just haven’t closed the design.”
Boeing hopes to complete critical testing later this year but has not committed to a firm timeline for submission or approval.
