Boeing’s 777-9 certification program is falling behind, CEO Kelly Ortberg said, suggesting the issues could be significant enough to warrant a formal change to its current first-delivery timeline.
“We still don’t have authorization from the FAA for a good portion of the certification program,” Ortberg said at the Morgan Stanley Laguna conference Sept. 11. “So, we’re working through that right now with the FAA, but we were clearly behind our plan in getting the certification done.”
Boeing’s notional timeline has both FAA approval and first deliveries coming in 2026. Ortberg did not change this, but said senior leadership are evaluating the issue to determine potential ramifications.
“I’ve asked [CFO] Jay Malave ... to spend some time as we come through this quarter, really looking at this schedule slip and understanding what the implications are and our go-forward plan,” he said.
Ortberg emphasized that the latest delays are not linked to technical issues. “Both the airplane and the [GE Aerospace GE9X] engine are really performing quite well,” he said.
He alluded to an increasingly deliberate FAA approach to aircraft approval as the major obstacle.
“We can go fly, but we can’t actually get the certification credit until we get” type inspection authorization (TIA)—formal FAA testing clearance—for the required tests, Ortberg said.
The FAA broke the 777-9 TIA into phases, which give Boeing approval to conduct required tests in specific batches. Before approving each TIA phase and allowing its pilots on the aircraft, the FAA must be convinced that the design conforms to the applicable regulations.
The FAA declined to comment on the 777-9 certification program's status.
"The FAA does not comment on certification projects," the agency said in a statement. "Safety will dictate the timeline."
Phased TIAs are not new. What has changed is the FAA’s level of scrutiny.
Some of the new process is linked to requirements, such as new limits in delegating certification work to industry, in 2020 legislation that reformed FAA certification. It also reflects the post-737 MAX crisis environment in which the agency is simply asking more, and sometimes more complex, questions before allowing applicants to progress to a certification program’s next step.
The changes came with Boeing in the midst of its 777-9 certification program as well as efforts to earn approval for the last two 737 MAX variants, the 737-7 and 737-10. All three programs have been hit with multiple delays—some technical, and some linked to new certification protocol—and are years behind as a result.
The 737s are currently on track for 2026 approvals, provided that a required redesign of the engine anti-ice system earns FAA approval.
“At the last earnings call [in July], we slipped the completion of the certification from the end of the year into next year,” Ortberg said. “The good news is we’ve made really good progress on the design of the engine anti-ice since that time. I feel pretty good that we’re nailing that design.”
“We’re in the process right now of working with the FAA on the certification of that design, what tasks need to be done,” he added. “We’re still planning on getting that cert done next year, getting aircraft delivered next year.”
Going forward, Ortberg sees room for improvement without compromising safety.
“The certification process [is] way too slow,” Ortberg said. “We’ve got to work with the FAA in swinging the pendulum back and making that a process that’ll work. I can’t imagine that we can do a new airplane without having that process refined.”
This story has been updated to include the FAA's response.
