United needs to decide what to do with its old Boeing 737 Max 10 seats
United Airlines is struggling to determine how to utilize premium lie-flat seats originally intended for the delayed Boeing 737 Max 10. The airline is currently evaluating interior configurations as the aircraft's certification remains behind schedule.
Why it matters
This highlights the operational and financial challenges airlines face when aircraft manufacturing delays disrupt long-term fleet and product strategy.
In August 2018, the then-president and now CEO of United Airlines Scott Kirby told a room of reporters at an aviation conference in Denver about the airline's big plans for the new Boeing 737 Max 10: lie-flat, premium seats and a host of profitable, transcontinental routes.
The plane was supposed to start flying in 2020.
Hundreds of those seats have been in storage because its certification — which was expected more than six years ago — is far behind schedule . Now, Boeing and many of its customers expect the company to win federal approval for the plane, the largest in the bestselling 737 Max family, soon, so United has to decide what to do with all those seats.
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