On 14 October 2026 the US Transportation Secretary, Sean Duffy, met the chief executives of Boeing, GE Aerospace, RTX and other aerospace companies in Savannah, Georgia, to discuss how to speed up Federal Aviation Administration approval of new aircraft and parts. Reuters reported the meeting on 14 October, citing officials, and a Duffy spokesperson confirmed it. Bloomberg’s account of the agenda came from people familiar with the meeting, who were not named. The Savannah location comes from Bloomberg, as reported by Quartz.

Why the government wants speed

Duffy’s case is about China. “If we can’t move at a different pace in certification, we’re going to lose. China is going to beat us,” he told reporters on 30 September, Reuters reported. The Department of Transportation said in a statement, reported by Bloomberg, that reform is a chance to “enhance safety for the flying public and maintain America’s global aerospace competitiveness”.

The FAA proposed changes to modernise and speed up certification of new commercial aircraft in June, according to Reuters. None of the reports we read described any decision from Wednesday’s meeting. For now the industry has statements of intent from the department and from the FAA’s Administrator, Bryan Bedford.

Delays to the 737 MAX 7, MAX 10 and 777X

The FAA certified the 737 MAX 7 on 3 August 2026 after what it called “almost a decade of extensive review”. In October 2025 Boeing pushed first delivery of the 777X to 2027, which Reuters reported was seven years later than originally planned, and Boeing said on 16 September 2026 that deliveries remained on track to begin next year, according to Bloomberg. Nearly the entire MAX 7 order book is going to Southwest, CBS News reported on 29 September.

The 737 MAX 10, the largest version of the family, was thought to be days away from certification at the end of September, CBS News reported, before the FAA paused it over a flight management software issue in code supplied by GE Aerospace. Bedford told reporters on 28 September that the FAA would be “delaying the 10 until we’re satisfied that we don’t have an issue here”, CNBC reported. On 2 October the FAA’s Corrective Action Review Board decided the issue was not a safety concern, which CNBC said removed a hurdle to certification. The chief executives of Alaska Airlines and Ryanair, both MAX 10 customers, had brushed off concerns about the delays earlier that week, according to CNBC. As of 16 October the FAA had not announced MAX 10 certification.

Boeing and Airbus deliveries

Boeing delivered 57 aircraft in September, up from 51 in August and 55 a year earlier, Reuters reported on 13 October. That included 43 737 MAX jets, eight 787s, two 777 freighters and four 767s. Deliveries for the first nine months reached 475, up 8 per cent on 2025. The backlog rose to 6,371 jets from 6,156 at the end of August. Turkish Airlines’ order for 100 737 MAX jets lifted Boeing’s September orders to 165.

Airbus delivered 72 aircraft in September and 547 in the first nine months, according to the monthly data it published on 8 October. Airbus kept its target of about 870 deliveries at its half-year results on 29 July, so hitting it means delivering 323 in the fourth quarter.

What it means for airlines and lessors

An airline can’t take delivery of an aircraft until it is certified, however much it has paid. Carriers waiting on the MAX 10 or 777X have to keep older aircraft flying longer or extend leases on the ones they have. Boston Warwick saw the same pressure in Korean Air’s 103-aircraft Boeing order, where three of the four types were still uncertified at signing.

Lessors are paid rent only once an aircraft is delivered. If it arrives two years late, the lessor has money tied up in pre-delivery payments for two years with no rent coming in.

Any benefit from faster approvals is likely to be years away. A rule change would have to survive consultation, and the FAA would still need the engineers to apply it. Boston Warwick’s view is that airlines should plan fleets on the current certification record, and count on a faster process only once it produces an actual approval date.

Sources