American Airlines Works With Boeing For 1st 737 MAX Landing Gear Swap

Credit: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock | Simple Flying Published Sep 14, 2026, 10:59 AM EDT Louis is a military historian and the staff writer for History of War magazine, a leading military history monthly. He also has an interest in private and commercial aviation. Sign in to your Simple Flying account Boeingand American Airlines have announced that they completed the first Boeing 737 MAX landing gear exchange. The partnership shows that Boeing's longstanding Landing Gear Exchange Program has now been extended to the 737 MAX. The Landing Gear Exchange gives enrolled airlines access to main and nose landing gear, along with installation kits so that the carrier's mechanics can swap in the new landing gear. The airline then hands its unserviced landing gear to Boeing, and the manufacturer completes an overhaul at one of its maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) facilities. Aircraft supported include the 737, 777, 747 and 787 families. The Advantages That The Landing Gear Exchange Brings to The 737 MAX For this landing gear exchange, American Airlines received a 737 MAX landing gear ready to install. This reduced the aircraft on-ground time for the jet that needed a landing gear service. It also reduced the need for spare parts, as American Airlines did not need to keep a new, expensive landing gear set, or the parts needed to execute an overhaul, in storage. Boeing says the procedure validated the strengths of the end-to-end overhaul, in which the manufacturer handles the technical overhaul, and the airline installs the new landing gear. Carriers can reserve forward-exchange slots, providing greater fleet predictability than ordering brand-new landing gear. It has plans to apply the approach consistently across the 737 MAX fleet. Boeing is currently seeking to connect with additional airlines that want to participate in the landing gear exchange. William Ampofo, senior vice president, Parts & Distribution and Supply Chain, Boeing Global Services, said: "This milestone reinforces what our customers have known for years: Boeing's Landing Gear Exchange capability delivers predictable, safe and cost‑effective outcomes." Boeing Completed Its 100th 787-8 Landing Gear Exchange This Year The landing gear exchange process that American Airlines' 737 MAX has benefited from has been previously validated on other jets. A prominent example is the 787-8. In April, Aviation Week reported that the 100th landing gear exchange delivery for the jet had been completed. The manufacturer was also working to extend the program's coverage to the 787-9. "A few" of those jets had already had exchanges completed, with Aviation Week defining ten to 12 years as the "sweet spot." This sweet spot helps explain the new focus on 737 MAX landing gear exchanges, as the first delivery was made in May 2017. The first airlines to receive the jet will need overhauled landing gear over the next few years. As with the 737 MAX, an enormous number of 787-9s are about to enter the sweet spot. Of the roughly 730 787-9s in service, around half are at least eight years old. 37% of these older aircraft are owned by Asia-Pacific carriers. European and North American carriers each have about 20% of the global fleet. This spread explains the need for Boeing to work with its global MRO partners to execute the landing gear exchange. Boeing Has Made Massive Landing Gear Exchange Deals Boeing's landing gear exchange program requires enough airlines to be willing to participate. It's signed some huge contracts to tie as many jets into the program as possible. For example, at the Singapore Airshow this February, it agreed to a deal across over 75 jets owned by the Singapore Airlines (SIA) Group. The group includes Singapore Airlines, its low-cost subsidiary Scoot, and the MRO firm SIA Engineering Company. The deal includes both 737 MAX and Dreamlineraircraft, standardizing support across its widebody and narrowbody fleet. Deals like these provide a superb growth opportunity for Boeing Global Services, the manufacturer's aftermarket services division. The company was worth $19.1 billion in 2023. It remains a key driver within a broader corporate ecosystem struggling to get out of the red.