The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is once again letting Boeing consistently issue airworthiness certificates for new 737 MAXs and 787s, years after that was yanked due to production quality issues. This is good news from an efficiency standpoint, but can Boeing be trusted?
FAA allows Boeing to issue airworthiness certificates again
Effective immediately, the FAA is once again allowing Boeing to issue its own airworthiness certificates for new 737 MAX and 787 aircraft. This is a major development for Boeing, as the aerospace giant had these privileges yanked in 2019 for the 737 MAX, and in 2022 for the 787.
For some background, Boeing has of course been under incredible regulatory scrutiny in recent years, and for good reason. First there were the two fatal 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 (Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines), and then we’ve seen all kinds of additional quality control issues with both the 737 MAX and 787.
As part of the increased oversight, Boeing’s ability to self-certify the airworthiness of new aircraft was taken away. In other words, Boeing couldn’t just say that its planes were safe, but it had to actually prove it to regulators, before they’d sign off on that.
The concept of self-certifying planes is possible through the FAA’s Organization Designation Authorization (ODA) program, which allows authorized organizations to perform certification functions on behalf of the FAA, such as issuing airworthiness and production certifications for aircraft. So the FAA is now once again delegating this to Boeing, so Boeing can decide if an aircraft is safe to operate.
Getting to this point has been a process. As of late September 2025, the FAA started to allow Boeing to issue its own airworthiness certificates, but only on alternating weeks. The idea was then to see if there was any difference in production quality for the planes certified directly by Boeing, rather than by the FAA. The FAA claimed that there was no difference in quality.
The FAA claims that it’s confident in Boeing’s quality
The FAA claims that safety drives everything that the organization does, and the FAA is only allowing this step because it’s confident that it can be done safely. This decision follows a thorough review of Boeing’s ongoing production quality, and will reportedly allow FAA inspectors to focus additional surveillance on the production process.
For example, there will be more FAA inspectors observing critical assembly stages, examining trends, ensuring Boeing mechanics are performing work to approved type design and engineering requirements, and assessing all activities for Boeing’s continuous improvement of its Safety Management System (SMS). Inspectors will also observe Boeing’s safety culture, ensuring that Boeing employees can report safety issues without fear of retribution.
Here’s what FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford had to say about this development:
“Safety drives everything we do, and this step forward is only possible because we are confident it can be done safely. Our inspectors will continue rigorous oversight of Boeing’s production while focusing more of their time where it has the greatest impact—identifying and addressing potential risks earlier in the manufacturing process.”
I’m sure people will have conflicting takes on this, with many thinking it reflects the current administration’s anti-regulation attitude. I don’t have a terribly strong take on this, though this is definitely positive news in terms of Boeing being able to deliver planes more efficiently, which has been a massive issue for the company in recent years.
Can Boeing be trusted to self-certify planes in this way, given its track record? I mean, I don’t think any for-profit, publicly traded company can be “trusted.” However, I do believe that the top executives at Boeing now finally have the mandate to focus on quality and long term sustainability over short term profits, so in that sense, I do think progress has been made.
Hopefully this represents Boeing turning a corner in a positive way, though only time will tell.
Bottom line
Boeing has regained the ability to consistently issue airworthiness certificates for new planes. These are privileges that were taken away in 2019 for the 737 MAX, and in 2022 for the 787. As of late 2025, we saw Boeing regain the ability to issue airworthiness certificates on alternating weeks, and now it can do so consistently.
The FAA claims that it’s confident in Boeing’s quality improvements, and that resources would better be put into oversight of Boeing in other areas. We’ll see how this plays out, but it should be good news in terms of the pace at which planes are delivered.
What do you make of Boeing regaining the ability to self-certify its aircraft?
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