Boeing Falls Nearly 7% as FAA Holds Up 737 MAX 10 Approval

Boeing shares fell 6.9% on Monday after federal regulators put the certification of its 737 MAX 10 on hold, citing a software problem that could disrupt landing guidance during an aborted approach. The reaction was immediate.

A go-around software flaw

The Federal Aviation Administration said it would hold off on approving the MAX 10 until it can determine whether the flaw poses a genuine safety-of-flight risk. The agency gave no new timeline. Boeing had expected the jet, the largest member of its 737 MAX family and the last still awaiting sign-off, to clear the process within weeks, and approval had been widely anticipated for October.

The issue sits in software that Boeing flagged to regulators in recent weeks. According to reporting from Reuters and the aviation trade press, the affected code can interrupt automated landing guidance when a crew executes a go-around, the maneuver in which pilots abort a landing, add thrust, and climb to set up another approach. Regulators are examining whether that raises pilot workload too far at a demanding moment. Crews kept control of the aircraft in the situations under review. The software was supplied by GE Aerospace, Boeing’s engine partner, and Boeing has said it is working on an update.

The agency was direct about its posture. Its administrator said the FAA would withhold the MAX 10’s certification until it was satisfied the problem had been resolved, and set no date to revisit the call. The delay lands only days after Boeing’s chief executive said approval was expected very soon, with flight testing already complete. That shift, from an imminent sign-off to an open-ended review, drove the day’s selling.

Below its three-month range

The selling left Boeing at $184.39, down from $198.07 on Friday, on volume nearly three times its 20-day average. That is heavy trade for the stock. The shares have lost about 12% over the past 30 days and now sit 23% under their 90-day high of $240.19. Monday’s close also slipped beneath the floor of that three-month range, which had held at $196.80, marking a fresh low for the period.

The drop came on a broadly weak session. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both fell Monday as oil prices climbed and Treasury yields rose. Boeing’s slide ran well past the market’s, driven by news specific to the company rather than the day’s macro pressure.

What the FAA review turns on

The near-term question is how the agency classifies the flaw. Should it decide the software poses an unreasonable safety risk, the fix and re-review could stretch certification from weeks into months. Boeing’s own software update is the other marker to watch. The timeline is open.

Airlines are waiting on the outcome. Alaska Airlines had planned to take its first MAX 10 deliveries in the spring of 2027, a schedule that now hinges on when the jet clears the FAA. For a program that was expected to clear approval within weeks, the pause resets the clock on the last piece of its best-selling family.

This is a general-market summary for information only — not investment advice, and not a recommendation regarding any security.