Boeing is getting back a responsibility it lost after years of crises. The US Federal Aviation Administration said it will again allow Boeing to issue airworthiness certificates for its own 737 Max and 787 jets, effective Monday, July 20, according to reporting on the agency's decision. It is a sign the regulator has grown more comfortable with the quality coming out of Boeing's factories.
What an airworthiness certificate is
Before a newly built jet can be handed to an airline and flown, it needs an airworthiness certificate, an official document declaring that the specific aircraft was built to its approved design and is safe to operate. For most of aviation history the FAA has delegated the routine issuing of these certificates to the manufacturer, with its own inspectors overseeing the process. It is a normal, high-volume part of getting planes out the door.
That delegation is precisely what the FAA suspended for Boeing. The agency took over issuing 737 Max certificates itself in 2019, during the jet's grounding after two fatal crashes, and did the same for the 787 in 2022 over manufacturing-quality problems, per the reporting. Having FAA inspectors sign off on every plane was slower, and a visible mark of lost trust.
Why the FAA is easing up now
The change did not happen overnight. Starting in late 2025 the FAA restored the authority partially, with the agency and Boeing taking turns issuing certificates on alternating weeks. Over the following months, the regulator says, it found that the quality of the work was comparable whether Boeing or the FAA did the certifying, and on that basis it decided Boeing was ready to take the task back. The FAA framed the move as freeing its inspectors to focus on deeper audits earlier in the manufacturing process rather than signing off finished planes.
Crucially, this is not the FAA stepping back from Boeing. The agency says it will keep inspectors embedded in Boeing's factories, auditing assembly, checking compliance and monitoring quality trends, and the broader constraints it imposed after the January 2024 Alaska Airlines door-plug blowout, including limits on how fast Boeing can build 737s, remain part of the picture. What is changing is the paperwork authority, not the oversight.
Why it matters for the business
For Boeing, the significance is partly practical and partly symbolic. Certifying its own jets can smooth and speed deliveries, which matters because airlines typically pay the bulk of a plane's price on delivery, so faster certification means cash arriving sooner. Boeing has spent years digging out of a financial hole created by grounded jets, halted production and compensation costs, and delivery pace is central to its recovery. Regaining the regulator's trust is exactly the kind of milestone investors have been watching for.
Symbolically, it signals that the FAA believes Boeing's manufacturing has stabilized after a run of quality scandals. Not everyone will be reassured: safety advocates may question whether a few months of matching results proves lasting change at a company whose problems were deep and repeated. The FAA's answer is that trust is being returned in stages, with oversight retained. Whether Boeing keeps it will depend on the planes that now roll out under its own sign-off. Boursel does not forecast the share price; the takeaway is a company edging back toward normal after an abnormal few years. Boursel will watch the delivery numbers.
