United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby says the carrier has hundreds of lie-flat business class seats sitting in storage after the Boeing 737 MAX 10 aircraft they were ordered for was delayed by years. While the MAX 10 is finally expected to obtain certification in the near future, United faces a dilemma over what to do with the seats.
The airline originally planned to use the seats on premium transcontinental routes, but those plans have since moved to the Airbus A321neo. According to Kirby, the lie-flat seats “don’t fit on other airplanes,” and the carrier has no clear plan for them as it reconsiders its MAX 10 interior plans.
United May Have No Use For Hundreds Of Ordered Lie-Flat Seats
The ongoing certification delays with the 737 MAX 10 have put the model’s largest customer in a difficult position. In an interview with CNBC earlier this month, Kirby said the airline is sitting on hundreds of unused lie-flat seats that it had envisioned for the MAX 10 before years of regulatory delays forced a rethink of the aircraft’s cabin.
Rather than wait for the MAX 10, United shifted its premium transcontinental plans onto the A321neo. The carrier has built a dedicated subfleet it calls the “Coastliner,” fitted with 20 United Polaris lie-flat suites, 12 Premium Plus seats and 129 economy seats, for a total of 161 passengers. The airline will eventually operate 50 Coastliner A321neos, with 40 expected to be in service by early 2028.
There is now uncertainty over what the interior of the MAX 10 will be, and whether United’s inventory of lie-flat seats will ever be installed. United first announced its lie-flat plans for the MAX 10 in 2018, earmarking lucrative transcontinental routes out of Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) and Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD). Additionally, its lie-flat vision for the MAX 10 predates its United Premium Plus product, which had yet to debut in 2018. Kirby said,
“We got a bunch of lie-flat seats that we don’t know what to do with. They don’t fit on other airplanes.”
The carrier has yet to formally reveal its cabin layout for the MAX 10, although recent indications suggest a higher-density layout of 189 seats, including 20 United First recliners and 169 economy seats, of which 64 are Economy Plus. United first ordered the aircraft in 2017, initially positioning it as a competitor to the Airbus A321neo, which it would later order in 2021.
The planned 189-seat configuration reflects the different role the Boeing 737 MAX 10 is now expected to play at United. It will now likely serve primarily as a high-capacity domestic aircraft as a replacement for the Boeing 757-300, the largest narrowbody in United’s fleet, which can seat 234 passengers.
Seats, particularly premium models, are not easily interchangeable between aircraft types, so United isn’t able to shift its inventory of lie-flat seats onto other aircraft types. As Simple Flying explored earlier this year, airlines are already having a difficult time obtaining certification for increasingly sophisticated premium seats.
The Chicago-based airline expects to take delivery of up to 20 737 MAX 10s in 2027.
First MAX 10 Deliveries Expected In Summer 2027
United has a sizable 167 firm orders for the 737 MAX 10, making it the type’s largest customer. The 737 MAX 10 was initially scheduled to enter service in 2020, but is now set to debut in 2027. United says it expects its first MAX 10 deliveries in the summer of 2027 ahead of its entry to service later that year, and could take as many as 20 airframes by the end of 2027.
The shortest variant in the 737 MAX family — the Boeing 737 MAX 7 — finally achieved full certification earlier this month, with launch customer Southwest Airlines set to debut the type in the first half of 2027. The delays to both aircraft were caused in large part by a redesign of the engine anti-ice system, which was found to be at risk of overheating the engine inlet during extended use in dry air.
In July, Boeing completed the final planned certification flight tests for the MAX 10, having flown more than 2,000 test flight hours on the program. United won’t be the launch customer for the MAX 10, as that milestone is set to go to Canadian carrier WestJet, which expects its first MAX 10 delivery by the end of this year.
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