FAA Halts Boeing's 737 MAX 10 Certification Over Software Glitch; Shares Sink 6.9%

The Federal Aviation Administration will hold off certifying Boeing's 737 MAX 10 until a newly disclosed software glitch is resolved, Administrator Bryan Bedford said Monday — the first on-record regulatory delay tied to the issue, and a direct hit to a certification widely expected in October.

"We will be delaying the 10 until we're satisfied that we don't have an issue here," Bedford told reporters at an event at Reagan Washington National Airport. He declined to estimate how long the delay would last. "Is that weeks, days, months? I don't know."

The market's verdict was swift. Boeing shares closed down 6.9% at $184.39, leading Dow decliners, on volume of about 18 million shares — more than triple Friday's 5.39 million. GE Aerospace, which developed the software at issue, fell 2.7% to $318.24. The broader S&P 500 fell 0.8% and the Dow 0.7%.

A glitch two years in the making

The issue lives in versions 14 and 14.1 of the operating system for the 737 MAX's flight management computer. When a pilot flying a precision approach with autopilot engaged alters the pre-programmed flight plan after a missed approach, the vertical navigation system — VNAV — can disengage and drop to a less sophisticated level of automated pitch control, according to CBS News' reporting. The FAA says the software version can increase pilot workload during a go-around, when a pilot aborts a landing, applies power and climbs to try again.

What stings is the timeline. An airline first reported the issue to Boeing in November 2024. Boeing reviewed it and concluded in February 2025 that it was not a safety issue. "Additional information from operators" earlier this year prompted a formal safety review board, whose findings reached the FAA this month. Boeing notified all 737 operators in late August; the Wall Street Journal reported the glitch Saturday, citing company documents.

Boeing said Saturday it had "shared information with operators that reinforced existing pilot procedures for safely handling such cases," adding that its engineers are "working on a software update to permanently address the issue." A Boeing spokesperson said Monday the company continues "to follow the lead of the FAA as we work through the certification process." Boeing also notes that even if VNAV disengages, the autopilot keeps functioning and all pilots are trained to land without VNAV.

The review board that now owns the calendar

The FAA will convene a Corrective Action Review Board (CARB) — not before next week at the earliest, two sources told Reuters. The board will test whether the software poses an "unreasonable risk to safety"; a finding of risk could add months of rework to a certification that was days away. Bedford drew a deliberate contrast with the MAX's darkest chapter: despite the bug, pilots maintained control, unlike the undisclosed automatic flight control software involved in the two 737 MAX crashes of 2018 and 2019, he said, according to Reuters.

The commercial stakes are substantial. The MAX 10 carries roughly 1,533 firm orders, and Boeing completed 976 certification flights, the last on July 28, with first customer deliveries expected in 2027. The smaller MAX 7 was certified last month running software version 14, while the MAX 10 had been testing on 14.1. Southwest was set to begin taking MAX 7 deliveries this fall; Alaska Airlines is expected to be the MAX 10's launch customer.

Airlines are already voting with their fleets. Southwest and United told Boeing they will not accept new 737 MAX deliveries running the affected software, requesting an earlier version instead. Alaska, American, Southwest and United told CBS News none of their in-service fleets use the software version in question. The dissenter is WestJet: the Canadian carrier said it has seen no in-service issues and does not view the matter as a safety concern, adding it has "standard operating procedures and training to mitigate this type of event."

What to watch: the board, the fix, the fall deliveries

Three clocks are now running. The review board's — its verdict decides whether this is a paperwork delay or months of rework. Boeing's — the company initially told airlines a permanent software fix would arrive in early 2028, with updated pilot guidance in November, and says it is working to move both forward; Bedford suggested supplier GE Aerospace may accelerate under the spotlight, saying he thought "GE may try to get this software correction in much quicker." And the delivery clock: it remains unclear whether new MAX 7s can be delivered with the earlier software Southwest requested, since federal rules generally require newly built aircraft to match their certified configuration.

Analysts are in wait-and-see mode. Jefferies' Sheila Kahyaoglu called the issue a "watch item" in a Sunday note, flagging that resolving it with regulators could take time — with Barron's summary of her note adding possible read-across to the 777X timeline as well.