Boeing and American Airlines have completed the first landing gear exchange for a 737 MAX under Boeing’s Landing Gear Exchange Program. The milestone marks the expansion of Boeing’s long-standing exchange program to the 737 MAX platform.
Under the program, Boeing provides fully overhauled and certified main and nose landing gear assemblies that are delivered ready for installation. For the first exchange completed with American Airlines, Boeing supplied both main and nose landing gear assemblies along with installation kits. Wheels, tires and brakes were not included in the exchange package.
The program is designed to allow airlines to replace landing gear with pre-overhauled assemblies instead of carrying out lengthy in-place overhaul processes. Boeing says this approach can reduce aircraft ground time, lower the need to maintain costly spare landing gear inventories and make heavy maintenance planning more predictable.
Boeing is also planning to expand the program’s global capacity for the 737 MAX. Working with certified MRO partners, the company aims to increase overhaul capacity, expand its inventory of MAX-compatible landing gear and offer forward-exchange slots closer to airline operations. Boeing also manages the technical overhaul, implementation of applicable service bulletins, certification and supplier coordination under the program.
