Boeing and American Airlines announced on Sept. 14, 2026, that they had completed the first landing gear exchange for a 737 MAX, extending Boeing’s longstanding Landing Gear Exchange Program to the aircraft platform. Boeing supplied overhauled and certified main and nose landing gear assemblies with installation kits, excluding wheels, tires and brakes.
The exchange covered the process from technical overhaul and required paperwork through delivery of assemblies ready for installation. Boeing said the completed swap validated its ability to apply that process consistently to the MAX fleet and was intended to reduce aircraft-on-ground time and the burden of maintaining costly spare gear inventories.
Under the exchange model, airlines can reserve forward-exchange slots instead of buying and warehousing spare landing gear or waiting through lengthy in-place overhauls. Boeing manages the technical overhaul, incorporates applicable service bulletins, handles certification and coordinates suppliers. The company said this arrangement transfers inventory and obsolescence risk away from operators while helping them align heavy maintenance with operational needs.
“Extending the program to the 737 MAX gives operators another proven tool to shorten downtime, manage costs and align heavy maintenance with operational needs,” said William Ampofo, senior vice president of Parts & Distribution and Supply Chain at Boeing Global Services.
Boeing said it is increasing global overhaul capacity and coordinating with certified maintenance, repair and overhaul partners to broaden geographic availability and shorten lead times. Its near-term priorities include expanding the inventory available for 737 MAX exchanges, adding forward-exchange slots near customer operations and tracking operating metrics to quantify downtime and cost benefits as the program grows.