United Boeing 737 Max 10 seats leave airline with cabin decision
United has hundreds of stored lie-flat seats built for delayed Max 10s, while its premium transcontinental strategy has shifted to Airbus jets.
By Sofia Marchetti · World Affairs Correspondent
2 min read
United Airlines must decide how to use hundreds of lie-flat seats intended for its Boeing 737 Max 10 fleet after years of aircraft delays altered its premium-cabin plans. The carrier has not announced the Max 10 cabin layout or routes, even as it expects its first deliveries in summer 2027, CNBC reported.
The issue carries weight because United had 167 Max 10s on order in its most recent quarterly filing, according to CNBC. Chief Executive Scott Kirby said the stored seats cannot be moved easily to other aircraft because they do not fit them.
What will United do with its Boeing 737 Max 10 seats?
United has yet to say whether the seats will be used in its eventual Max 10 configuration or how the aircraft will be deployed. The airline designed the lie-flat product for the Max 10 years ago, when it intended to use the narrow-body jets on transcontinental routes. That plan was made before United introduced a premium-economy cabin, CNBC reported.
In August 2018, Kirby, then United's president, outlined plans for lie-flat premium seating and transcontinental service on the Max 10. At that point, the airline expected the aircraft to enter service in 2020. Certification has instead run years behind that schedule, leaving the airline with aircraft-specific seats in storage.
CNBC reported that delays to Boeing's Max 7 and Max 10 followed a redesign of an anti-icing system and came during a period of heightened scrutiny of Boeing over safety and manufacturing problems. Boeing won certification for the smaller Max 7 earlier in August, but the Max 10 had not yet received approval, according to CNBC.
While waiting, United moved ahead with another premium transcontinental product. It recently outfitted a group of Airbus A321neos, called Coastliner, with 20 newly designed Polaris suites, premium-economy choices and other new seats, CNBC reported.
The A321neo and Max 10 have different dimensions and installation requirements, limiting United's ability to transfer the planned interiors between the aircraft. That leaves the carrier to settle the Max 10's cabin design and network role after its earlier plans were overtaken by the long certification delay.
United expects the first Max 10 deliveries in 2027, a timetable also reported by FlightGlobal. Until the airline publishes its final configuration and route plans, the fate of the stored lie-flat seats remains unresolved.
This story draws on original reporting from CNBC.