The push to compress US aircraft certification timelines runs into an industry still struggling to deliver the aircraft it has already certified: the Boeing 737 MAX 7 required more than eight years to gain FAA approval, and the 777X is nearly seven years behind schedule.

US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has framed the lengthy process as a competitive threat, warning that the US would be beaten by China if certification pace does not accelerate. The FAA has been working on plans to streamline a process that routinely stretches five years or more for a new aircraft.

What is the FAA trying to change?

Duffy blames the slow certification path for a lack of innovation and investment in the US aerospace sector. New type approvals demand extensive testing and documentation across design, systems and production.

The MAX 7's eight-year path to certification and the 777X's seven-year slippage frame the scale of the problem the FAA's streamlining effort must address.

What is Boeing telling its suppliers?

At an industry event last month, Boeing chief technology officer Lane Ballard urged suppliers to accelerate automation as the industry moves away from the traditional craftsman model.

"Suppliers need to understand we've got to move away from craftsman thinking," Ballard said.

Ballard tied the urgency to demand: the industry will need approximately 40,000 commercial aeroplanes over the next 20 years.

Where is production slipping?

Boeing chief executive Kelly Ortberg said the manufacturer needs more time to stabilise 737 output at 47 aircraft per month, citing in-house wing production challenges.

Boeing and Airbus both face extensive backlogs rooted in component supply bottlenecks, particularly engines.

In late September, The Wall Street Journal reported that Boeing had identified a previously undisclosed 737 MAX software glitch that could cause an automated navigation feature to fail during landing.

In the same month, Airbus disclosed a "quality issue" in the fuselage structure of its A321neo affecting approximately 500 aircraft, while stressing it did not constitute a safety issue. During the summer, the airframer slowed A330neo output after a tool was found in a plane's tail structure.

Why does FAA caution toward Boeing persist?

The scrutiny Boeing processes still draw traces back to the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) — a flight-control law Boeing did not disclose to regulators until investigators linked it to two 737 MAX crashes that killed 346 people. The FAA slowed Boeing approvals sharply in the aftermath.

The source's parting suggestion — that the industry should "hang on to its craftsman thinking a bit longer" — captures the tension Duffy's initiative must navigate. The same documented rigour that delayed the MAX 7 and 777X is what regulators reached for after MCAS.

Whether FAA streamlining proceeds without loosening the post-MCAS controls Boeing still works under will determine whether Duffy's timeline, and Boeing's 47-aircraft monthly 737 target, become achievable before the 777X finally enters service.