Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan has said that the airline is expecting the Boeing 737 MAX 7 to be certified by August 2026. This would come ahead of its entry into service with Southwest the following year.

With the MAX 7 on track for certification by next summer, the MAX 10s long-awaited regulatory approval will likely follow a few months later. Southwest is the world’s largest Boeing 737 MAX operator with a fleet of almost 300 MAX jets at its disposal. The low-cost carrier also still has over 400 MAXs on order with the US planemaker.

Southwest Expects MAX 7 Certification Next Summer

Having had its entry to service pushed back repeatedly over the years, the 737 MAX 7 — the shortest of the four variants in the 737 MAX series — is on course for its certification by the FAA next summer. As reported by Reuters, Southwest CEO Jordan has said he expects this to happen around August next year, with Boeing informing the airline it is slated for « mid-next summer. » The carrier is by far the largest MAX 7 customer, holding around 90% of all orders for the variant.

As Simple Flying reported in July, Jordan previously estimated the MAX 7 to be certified in the first half of 2026, with his airline expecting the type to enter service before the end of 2026. However, with further regulatory complications holding up this process, Southwest will likely be flying the MAX 7 during the first quarter of 2027. Jordan said on the sidelines of a Wings Club event in New York this week,

« Boeing has said kind of mid-next summer. I would guess it’ll be certified, you know, maybe, August of (2026). »

Four Years Late And Counting

Southwest Airlines will be the launch customer of the shortened MAX 7 variant once it enters service, with the aircraft ideally suited to the carrier’s network and business model. Having initially expected the MAX 7 to be ready for operations in 2022, Southwest is now looking at more than four years of delays, with the MAX 7 no longer even part of the airline’s 2026 fleet plans.

The first 737 MAX variant to obtain regulatory approval for commercial operations was the 737 MAX 8, passing this hurdle in March 2017. However, the aircraft was grounded in early 2019 in the wake of two deadly crashes, with Boeing later facing complications with the MAX 7 and MAX 10s progress due to an engine de-icing issue.

This summer, Boeing withdrew an exemption request related to the aircraft’s Stall Management Yaw Damper system, but has been making steady progress on resolving the engine de-icing problem. The company announced last month that it had finished redesigning a new anti-icing system for the MAX, which would be implemented on new-build aircraft and retrofitted to existing planes.

Fleet Modernization Continues

Southwest continues to replace many of its older Boeing 737 models, of which it flies over 500 models from the 737NG series. Looking at ch-aviation data, Southwest has over 310 737-700s and almost 200 737-800s listed as active, which it operates alongside nearly 300 737 MAX 8 aircraft.

The carrier will slowly phase out its older 737NG fleet as it inducts newly-built 737 MAX aircraft. According to Boeing’s official delivery figures, Southwest has welcomed a total of 50 737 MAX aircraft to its fleet this year, including five deliveries last month. This is more than double the MAX deliveries it accepted last year, with Boeing managing a total of 22 MAX deliveries to Southwest in 2024.

As it stands, Boeing has delivered 396 MAX aircraft to its customers in 2025, a much-improved showing on 2024’s total figure of 260 MAX aircraft. The company was subject to a monthly production cap of 38 MAX aircraft until recently, when the FAA approved an increase to 42 monthly aircraft.