Will we ever see it in service? FAA drops bombshell on 777X: it won't even be certified by end of 2026

The Federal Aviation Administration will most likely not arrive at certification of the Boeing 777X by the end of 2026. The 'bomb' was dropped by the top leadership of the FAA itself.

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said this last week during the CAPA summit, adding that. the go-ahead for deliveries of version 2.0 of the Triple Seven will come after those of the last two variants of the 737 MAX that have not yet received the green light from the federal regulatory agency: the Boeing 737 MAX 7 and the 737 MAX 10, which are expected to be certified by the end of 2026.

At this point, 777-9 deliveries announced for the first half of 2027, primarily to Lufthansa, are again in doubt which will be the first carrier to receive the new aircraft.

Boeing hoped to obtain FAA certification for the 777X in October 2026. No details were given as to why the timeline was again postponed. Besides the fact that the 777X is now at least seven years away from its first flight in 2020, 2027 will be 14 years since its official launch in 2013.

Boeing has repeatedly emphasized that no new technical problems would arise, but that the delays are due to the certification process itself, the duration of which continues to extend. Also last week, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg clarified that the process is expected to be completed by the end of the year, with the exception of the Extende Range Twin Engine Operations (ETOPS) authorization.

The Everett-based manufacturer has already completed about 30 fuselages of the 777X, which lie parked at Paine Field Airport, overlooked by the aircraft's assembly line.

In the months of testing, the FAA has indicated modifications and improvements to be made to the airplane, which will have to be 'retrofitted' to the examples already made (with additional costs to be borne by Boeing), but an additional problem for the manufacturer may come from the fact that major customers of the aircraft have specified that they will not accept retrofitted examples into the fleet, but only built from scratch with the technical modifications required by the FAA. In short, as we would say in Italy, a big mess.

And to say that things seemed to have taken an entirely different turn when, in May 2026, the first Boeing 777-9 built to production standards for Lufthansa had completed its historic maiden flight Of three hours in Everett. Unlike the other aircraft used for testing, this aircraft already has a fully equipped Lufthansa cabin, including the new Allegris business class. The aircraft is currently engaged in operational testing under real-world conditions to verify the operation of the in-flight galleys (galleys), in-flight entertainment system (IFE) and Wi-Fi connectivity performance.

Instead, it is highly likely that even in the summer of 2027 the 777X will not be where its many customers had hoped to see it: in passenger service. Lufthansa, which has already announced the final retirement of its Airbus A340-600s and at least half of the remaining eight Boeing 747-400s, may be forced to 'keep them alive' for yet another Summer and once again postpone the retirement of its older, dated machines, especially in terms of cabin configuration, amenities and comfort level.

The German carrier has ordered a total of 27 Boeing 777X, which are expected to take the place of at least part of the 747-8 fleet in addition to the A340-600s and Boeing 747-400s. It is also among the carriers that have ordered a substantial number of 777Xs, albeit far behind Emirates and by Qatar Airways, which of the 2.0 version of the 777 have ordered a whopping 250 and 124 examples, respectively and behind as well Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines, which ordered 35, but behind British Airways (24), China Airlines (23), Korean Air (20), All Nippon Airways (18), Etihad (15), Air India and Cargolux (19), Ethiopian Airlines (8), and Silk Way West (2), with 35 orders whose recipient was not indicated.

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