Alaska Stakes Aurora Suites on an Uncertified 737-10

Alaska Airlines will put 12 lie-flat Aurora Suites on at least 25 Boeing 737-10s from 2028, a day after the FAA paused the jet’s approval. The Seattle carrier also named a new premium economy cabin, rebuilt Hawaiian A330s, and a gated lounge at Sea-Tac, all on a calendar that still depends on Boeing.

The 787 and A330 work can move without that certificate. The first 737 beds cannot.

The 737 Beds Depend on a Jet the FAA Paused

On September 29, 2026, Alaska Air Group showed its flagship Aurora and Leihōkū experiences at an investor event in Seattle. The surprise was not another 787 refresh. It was a true bed on a single-aisle jet, the first in the airline’s history, aimed at coast-to-coast first class.

The day before, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford told reporters at Reagan Washington National Airport that the 737-10 would wait.

We will be delaying the 10 until we’re satisfied that we don’t have an issue here.

Bryan Bedford, FAA Administrator, Reagan Washington National Airport

Boeing had already finished MAX 10 certification flight testing in July 2026. On September 16, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg had called approval “very soon.” Alaska Airlines Chief Operating Officer Jason Berry had told investors the carrier expected a certificate by the end of September, with 22 of the jets in 2027, the first arriving in spring, and passenger flights between April and mid-May.

The hold is a flight-management software problem from GE Aerospace. After a missed approach, vertical navigation can drop out if the crew changes the flight plan, which raises workload even though the pilots still fly the airplane. Bedford would not say whether a fix takes days, weeks, or months. Boeing is writing a software update and had earlier pointed to a lasting patch in 2028.

Alaska Air Group CEO Ben Minicucci said the 737-10s are still meant to enter service in 2027 and 2028, and that the lie-flat seats on that type land in fall 2028. “We’re not overly concerned,” he said, because that date still sits more than a year after the first planned deliveries. The buffer is real. It is also the whole wager: regular 737-10s can fly without beds; Aurora-fitted ones cannot.

THE CERTIFICATION CLOCK

1. July 2026: Boeing finishes MAX 10 certification flight tests.
2. September 16, 2026: Ortberg says approval is “very soon.”
3. September 28, 2026: Bedford delays the type certificate over the software issue.
4. September 29, 2026: Alaska names Aurora Suites for at least 25 of the jets.
5. Spring 2027: Alaska still plans its first MAX 10 delivery.
6. Summer 2027: Premium Reserve seats go on sale.
7. Late 2027: The Seattle lounge complex is due to open.
8. Early 2028: Hawaiian’s Honolulu lounge is due to open.
9. Fall 2028: Lie-flat seats on the 737-10 are due to fly.

In January 2026 Alaska placed a firm order for 105 MAX 10s and took rights for 35 more, the largest aircraft order in its history. Berry’s sheet still shows 30 more of the type in 2028. Only a slice of that fleet gets the bed.

Twelve Suites and a Four-Cabin 737

Each of those premium 737-10s is drawn with lie-flat Aurora Suites on the 737-10 in a 1-1 layout across six rows, so every suite has the aisle. Behind them sit 12 Premium Reserve seats. Premium Class and Main Cabin fill the rest. The jets will wear the same northern-lights Aurora paint already on the 787s, which is how a traveler will tell a bedded 737 from a recliner 737 at the gate.

That split matters. Most of the 105 firm jets will not have the suites. The same type will mix two very different front cabins, and the bedded ones are the minority.

SUITE AND PREMIUM RESERVE COUNTS

Alaska described the suites as fully flat, with direct aisle access, storage, a 19-inch 4K screen, Bluetooth, wireless and USB-C charging, and AC power. It specified privacy doors on the 787s. The 737 product is the narrowbody version of that seat, not a copy of the widebody room.

Minicucci said the bedded 737-10s would fly high-demand coast-to-coast markets from Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Seatback screens on those jets stop at Premium Reserve. Main Cabin uses personal devices on Starlink, which Atmos Rewards members get free through T-Mobile. Executives have left the door open to screens farther back if the business case appears later.

On the 787-9, the same Aurora name covers 34 suites with doors and a 1-2-1 layout. Future 787-10s get 40. Those widebodies already fly long-haul from Seattle. The 737 bed is the new claim, and it is the one tied to a jet that still has no type certificate.

We believe premium is more than a seat. It’s how guests feel from the moment they book their trip to the moment they arrive at the airport to when they’re in the air with us.

Ben Minicucci, CEO, Alaska Air Group

Hawaiian Rebuilds the A330 From Nose to Tail

Hawaiian’s 24 Airbus A330s, the jets that still do the heavy lifting to Asia, Oceania, and the mainland, get a full interior from 2028. Up front, 22 Leihōkū Suites replace the older business cabin. Leihōkū means “lei of stars,” a nod to Polynesian wayfinding, and the suites get sliding privacy doors, direct aisle access, the same 19-inch 4K screen, and hotel-style bedding.

The current A330 business cabin sits in a 2-2-2 layout. The new 22 pods sit in a 1-2-1, so every bed reaches the aisle. That is the hard-product change Hawaiian’s long-haul cabin has needed for years.

Premium seating on those jets rises from about 30% of the cabin to about 40%. Some of that gain is the new Premium Reserve block of 28 seats. The rest is a denser premium mix that leaves less of the airplane in Main Cabin. Families flying to Honolulu in coach will feel that as fewer cheap seats, not as a new suite.

Hawaiian Airlines CEO Diana Birkett Rakow tied the spend to the Kahu‘ewai Hawai‘i Investment Plan and to keeping the brand distinct after the 2024 combination with Alaska. Dedicated check-in and concierge desks are planned in Honolulu and Seattle for Leihōkū guests. Island-inspired menus stay with Executive Chef Dell Valdez. A Main Cabin pre-order program with Maui chef Sheldon Simeon already runs on most Hawai‘i-mainland flights.

The A330 refresh does not wait on the MAX 10. It does wait on shop time, seat certificates, and a 2028 induction slot that can still slip if the interiors pile up behind other work.

What Premium Reserve Adds Behind the Suites

Premium Reserve is the new fourth cabin on both brands, sold as a step between extra-legroom Premium Class and a lie-flat suite. Alaska said the seats go on sale in summer 2027 and start flying in 2028 on the 787-9, 787-10, selected 737-10s, and the A330 fleet.

If the suites are the headline, this cabin is where more tickets can sit. Twelve extra-wide chairs on a 737, 35 on a Dreamliner, and 28 on an A330 are a larger inventory than the suite counts in front of them, and they price below a bed.

PREMIUM RESERVE, AS DRAWN

• Pitch: 38 inches, with a wider seat than Main Cabin.
• Recline: Extra recline plus a leg and calf rest, not a flat bed.
• Screen: A 16-inch 4K OLED display with Bluetooth.
• Power: AC and USB-C at every seat, plus larger tray tables and storage.

On the 737-10 the cabin sits in 2-2. On the 787 it sits in 2-3-2. On the A330 it sits in 2-3-2 without the headrest privacy wings used on the Boeing jets, a choice Alaska tied to families traveling together to the islands. Dining and finishes step up from coach. They are not the chef-led, on-demand service promised in Aurora and Leihōkū.

Alaska has also hired Seattle chefs Renee Erickson and Brady Ishiwata Williams for international 787 menus. Erickson covers Europe, including London, Rome, and, from spring 2027, Athens and Paris. Williams covers Asia from Seattle. International guests get a cheese and charcuterie welcome that riffs on Alaska’s old fruit-and-cheese platter. That food story rides the widebodies. It does not need the 737 certificate.

The Aurora Lounge Will Not Take Walk-Ups

Ground product is the other half of the bet, and it is tightly fenced. At Sea-Tac, Aurora Suites guests get a private check-in and concierge. Long-haul suite guests also get the new Aurora Lounge on the expanded C Concourse, a 200-seat room stacked above a 500-seat Alaska Lounge. The two rooms together span nearly 41,000 square feet when they open in late 2027, which Alaska calls Seattle’s largest lounge.

Access to the upper room is written for Aurora Suites guests on intercontinental flights, not for anyone with a same-day coach ticket and a lounge membership. The lower 500-seat room keeps today’s Alaska Lounge rules.

WHAT THE NEW ROOMS INCLUDE

• Seattle, late 2027: Nearly 41,000 square feet on two levels, with an outdoor patio and fireplace, work pods, a pizza oven, a coffee lab, and three bars.
• Aurora Lounge only: Private shower suites, wellness rooms, and chef-made à la carte meals with tableside service.
• Honolulu, early 2028: A nearly 13,000-square-foot Hawaiian lounge for about 200 guests at the Mauka Concourse entrance in Terminal 1, with local food, a signature coffee bar, and access rules in line with today’s Plumeria Lounge, including Leihōkū Suites passengers.
• San Diego, 2028: A 14,000-square-foot Alaska Lounge at the carrier’s SAN hub; other details are still thin.

The Seattle upper room is the carrier’s answer to a Delta One Lounge or a Polaris Lounge, built for a thin slice of long-haul traffic. Titanium elites and domestic first-class travelers should read the door policy before they plan a layover around it. Construction still needs permits and a finish date that can move.

United Already Parked This Bet on Airbus

Coast-to-coast lie-flat seats are not a new idea. JetBlue Mint already sells a 1-1 bed with a sliding door on selected A321s. United has shifted the same job onto a dedicated A321neo it calls the Coastliner: 20 Polaris suites, 12 Premium Plus seats, and 129 coach seats, 161 in all. United plans 50 of those jets and about 40 in service by early 2028, which is the same year Alaska wants its first bedded 737-10s in the air.

United originally ordered lie-flat seats for its own 737-10s. The jet never came. CEO Scott Kirby has said the airline is stuck with hardware it cannot use.

We got a bunch of lie-flat seats that we don’t know what to do with. They don’t fit on other airplanes.

Scott Kirby, CEO, United Airlines

Alaska is walking into that same aircraft with a smaller suite count, 12 beds instead of United’s planned MAX 10 cabin, and with a year of slack between first delivery and first bed. The 787 doors, the A330 rebuild, and the Sea-Tac lounge do not live or die on Bedford’s next sentence. The domestic 737 bed does.

If the certificate comes in weeks, Berry’s 22 jets in 2027 can still show up, and the Aurora subfleet can be built for fall 2028. If the software review runs long, Alaska will be flying ordinary 737-10s while Mint and Coastliner keep selling the coast-to-coast bed Alaska just promised. The FAA has not set a new date for the 737-10 type certificate.