FAA’s Chris Rocheleau Just Ended Years of Boeing Nightmares With Four Words at Farnborough

A door plug ripped off a Boeing 737 Max minutes after takeoff from Portland in January 2024.

That single failure froze Boeing's two newest jets out of American skies for years.

Now a Trump appointed FAA official just said the freeze is ending with four specific words.

The Alaska Airlines Blowout Buried Boeing In Whitakers Production Freeze

A brand new Boeing 737 Max 9 lost a door plug mid flight over Oregon, just minutes after leaving the ground in Portland. The bolts meant to hold that panel in place were never installed before the jet left the factory floor, investigators found.

Then FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker, a Biden appointee, seized the moment. He capped Boeing's production at 38 planes a month and kept it there for nearly two years. Southwest Airlines and United Airlines watched their fleet plans collapse while regulators in Washington moved at their own pace.

Boeing's newest variants, the smaller Max 7 and the stretched Max 10, got buried in that slowdown. Both had already been delayed for years by a separate engine anti ice defect. Whitaker's FAA piled bureaucratic caution on top of a company already bleeding cash and credibility.

Southwest, the launch customer for the Max 7, has already told investors not to expect a single Max 7 delivery this year. Not one. An American company built the planes. An American regulator sat on them.

Airbus cashed in while Boeing sat under a federal production cap and a certification backlog of its own making.

Trump's FAA Chief Cleared the Runway

Enter Bryan Bedford. Trump nominated the former Republic Airways CEO to run the FAA in 2025, and Bedford told senators his top priority would be public safety and restoring the public's confidence in flying. Five former FAA administrators, including Whitaker himself, backed his confirmation, and the Senate approved him.

Bedford didn't sit on the production cap. His FAA lifted it to 42 planes a month in October, then approved a jump to 47 this year. He told reporters flat out that Boeing, not his agency, controls the timeline. "I don't think FAA is the roadblock on 7 and the -10 certification," Bedford said.

Boeing kept its end of the bargain, wrapping up its Max 7 flight testing ahead of this week's Farnborough Air Show.

And that brings us to Monday. Deputy FAA Administrator Chris Rocheleau sat down with reporters at Farnborough and delivered the four words Boeing has waited years to hear. The Max 7 certification, he said, is "literally around the corner." The larger Max 10 follows close behind.

Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg has been telling investors for months there is "light at the end of the tunnel." Now the deputy administrator of the United States government is putting a timestamp on it in public, at an international air show, with reporters standing right there.

The FAA didn't stop at certification. Bedford's agency also handed Boeing back its authority to self certify airworthiness on new 737s and 787s, a privilege Washington yanked in 2019 after the two Max crashes that killed 346 people. That authority returns next week.

This is what a functioning federal agency looks like when it stops treating a manufacturer as a suspect and starts treating it as a partner that has already fixed the problem. Whitaker had years to move. Bedford needed months. Southwest's launch customers, the workers in Renton and Everett, and every traveler waiting on a new jet are the ones who paid for the difference.

Sources:

• David Shepardson, "US Official Says FAA Not the Roadblock to Boeing Max 7, 10 Certification," Reuters, January 21, 2026.
• "Boeing 737 MAX 7 and 10 Certification Expected Soon, FAA Official Says," Investing.com, July 20, 2026.
• Leslie Josephs, "FAA Won't Clear Boeing to Increase 737 Max Production for Several Months," CNBC, May 30, 2024.
• "FAA Approves Boeing 737 MAX Production Increase to 47 Aircraft Monthly Creating Hundreds of New Everett Factory Jobs," Lynnwood Times, May 31, 2026.
• "Boeing in 'Final Stages' of 737 Max 7 and 10 Certifications," FlightGlobal, May 28, 2026.
• "Boeing 737 MAX 7 Certified By Summer & MAX 10 By Year End, Says FAA Chief," Simple Flying, May 28, 2026.
• "Boeing Secures FAA Approval to Issue Airworthiness Certificates for New 737s and 787s," Leeham News and Analysis, July 17, 2026.
• "Boeing 737 MAX 7 Nears FAA Certification by End of July 2026," Aviation A2Z, July 11, 2026.