52-year Ban on Supersonic Flight Over U.S. to Be Lifted

‍WASHINGTON D.C. — For the first time in 52 years, non-military supersonic flight will be legal over American soil, with POTUS signing an executive order for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to scrap its ban.

Commercial supersonic flight over the United States was banned in 1973 in response to complaints regarding the boom produced by aircraft flying faster than Mach 1. These sonic booms have been known to cause property damage, especially windows, as well as temporary and, in extreme cases, permanent hearing loss.

The issue has been contentious for the better part of six decades, since the introduction of supersonic aircraft, especially for people living under flight paths and environmental protection groups.

The June 6, 2025, Executive Order states, “By updating obsolete standards and embracing the technologies of today and tomorrow, we will empower our engineers, entrepreneurs, and visionaries to deliver the next generation of air travel, which will be faster, quieter, safer, and more efficient than ever before.”

“Within 18 months of the date of this order, the Administrator of the FAA shall issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to establish a standard for supersonic aircraft noise certification under 14 CFR Part 36 and amend 14 CFR 91.817.” The order essentially instructs the FAA to establish a standard for noise certification for aircraft exceeding Mach 1, as well as lift the ban for overland supersonic flight, as long as aircraft do not produce an audible sonic boom on the ground.

The Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology policy, Michael Kratsios, said, “The reality is that Americans should be able to fly from New York to LA in under 4 hours, — Advances in aerospace engineering, material science and noise reduction now make overland supersonic flight not just possible, but safe, sustainable and commercially viable.”

History

In 1947, American test pilot Chuck Yeager became the first person to break the sound barrier in his Bell X-1 Glennis over the Mojave Desert, California. In the decades that followed, NASA continued to research the booms emitted by supersonic aircraft. 

In 1964, they conducted a large-scale sonic boom experiment over Oklahoma City. Of the 3,000 people surveyed, 73% said they could live with the noise, whereas 27% said they wouldn’t be okay with the frequent noise. Additionally, 40% of those surveyed reported that the noise was causing damage to buildings and other property. Studies indeed showed that noise caused buildings to shake, and fragile materials, such as plaster, tiles, and glass, were susceptible to damage.

Just as supersonic airliners like the Concorde, Tupolev Tu-144, and Boeing 2707 were coming to production, the FAA outlawed supersonic flights over the United States in response to public pressure. This rule was primarily responsible for the demise of the global supersonic airliner industry, with American carriers losing interest in the class of aircraft. This led to the cancellation of the 2707 and the failure of the Concorde in the American and, essentially, the global market.

Although Concorde saw nearly four decades of service, becoming an iconic piece of commercial aviation history, it would be the only supersonic airliner to stand the test of time… until today.

Boom!

Nobody could be happier about this news right now than Boom Supersonic. The American start-up, founded in 2014 and headed by Blake Scholl, has been consistently critical of the ban throughout its history.

Boom is currently developing a brand-new supersonic airliner called Overture, a quad-jet that accommodates 64 to 80 passengers and can reach speeds of Mach 1.7. They plan to introduce the aircraft to the market by 2030, and have already had commitments for up to 130 aircraft from Japan Airlines (JL), United (UA), American (AA), and 51 from unidentified customers.

The demonstrator aircraft, the XB-1, happily named “Baby Boom”, flew for the first time in March of last year and retired this February after 13 flights. 2 of those flights exceeded the speed of sound, reaching Mach 1.1 over Mojave, California. The testbed was the first privately developed aircraft to achieve supersonic speeds, made possible by a local exception to the FAA’s ban. 

Baby Boom, during its two supersonic flights, also experimented with what they call “Boomless Cruise”. It made the sound inaudible to observers on the ground by flying at a specific speed (between Mach 1.0 and 1.3) and to a particular altitude, depending on atmospheric conditions.

In response to the announcement by POTUS, Blake Scholl said on X, “Supersonic is back, baby! — The supersonic race is on, and a new era of commercial flight can begin. Unleashed, my bet is very much on (the United States) —.

The company itself also expressed its gratitude, saying, “Thank you, President Trump, for unlocking the future of faster and quieter travel,” in its post to X.

Granted, the Boom project is unrealistic at worst and decades away from being feasible at best, so we can understand Scholl's enthusiasm.

Lockheed Martin and NASA

Lockheed Martin, an American company, has its roots in the aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology sectors. In March 1995, the merger between Lockheed Corporation and Martin Marietta formed Lockheed Martin. The company is one of the world's largest in the industries in which it operates.

The company is working on X-59 QueSST ("Quiet Supersonic Technology") under the shadow to produce an experimental supersonic aircraft for NASA's Low-Boom Flight Demonstrator project.

X-59 QueSST

Lockheed Martin was awarded a preliminary design contract by NASA in 2016, and later in 2018, the company secured a US$247.5 million contract to design, build, and deliver, in late 2021, the Low-Boom X-59 QueSST.

Regarding the salient features of the X-59 aircraft, it will be 94 ft (29 m) long with a 29.5 ft (9.0 m) wingspan. To power the jet and achieve a speed of Mach 1.5, the company will utilize the General Electric F414 engine. The company will use existing structural elements to support the development of a supersonic demonstrator.

Remember that the X-59 QueSST will act as a foundational demonstrator for the development of an advanced and practical supersonic jet. Due to a ban on flying commercial supersonic aircraft over land in certain countries, the company must address the sonic boom caused by aircraft flying above Mach 1. Sonic booms produce massive amounts of sound waves that resemble an explosion or a thunderclap.

Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works team is well aware of the sonic boom, and that's why X-59 will be used to collect community response data on the acceptability of a quiet sonic boom generated by the unique design of the aircraft. Data will assist NASA in providing sufficient information to the regulatory body to establish an acceptable commercial supersonic noise standard and lift the ban on commercial supersonic travel over land.

The company expected the first test flight of the X-59 in 2021, with commercial flight tests by 2023. But due to COVID challenges, they are postponing the scheduled flights. In a recent development,  Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works carried out the installation of the General Electric F-414-GE-100 engine on the X-59 QueSST. The powerplant is capable of producing 22,000 pounds of thrust.

The Lockheed X-59 team anticipates completing a series of ground tests and then conducting the first flight in 2023. NASA hopes to fly the X-59 over communities around the United States by 2025. However, the company has not provided any specific data on when NASA's Low Boom will be able to produce a commercial supersonic plane.

Hermeus Corporation

Hermeus was founded by Skyler Shuford in 2018 to develop a hypersonic aircraft capable of achieving a speed of Mach 5. The company aims to achieve a speed twice that of Concorde, enabling aircraft to fly across the Atlantic in just 90 minutes.

To achieve this milestone, the company has partnered with government agencies, including the US Air Force and NASA, to develop a hypersonic jet. We reached out to Skyler and took part in an exclusive interview to learn more about the company's mission.

Other Companies

In 2018, Boeing unveiled a hypersonic passenger airliner capable of flying near Mach 6. The capacity will be higher than that of a business jet and lower than that of a Boeing 737 aircraft. However, the company has not made any announcements about the project since its launch.

Apart from these supersonic projects carried out by US-based Boom, NASA, Lockheed Martin, Hermeus, and other startups, other countries, such as Russia, France, and Japan, have also worked extensively in the 21st century to produce successful supersonic aircraft.

Russia-based TsAGI, which had earlier developed the TU-144, showcased a scale model of its supersonic business jet at the 2017 Moscow air show. The aircraft will achieve a speed of about 2,100 km/h (1,300 mph) during the cruise phase and be capable of producing low sonic booms, permitting flights over land. However, there is less information available in the public domain due to the project's secrecy.

In 2003, the French-based EADS—the former parent company of Airbus—announced a partnership with Japanese companies to develop a larger, faster replacement for Concorde. To support the claim, in 2005, JAXA (Japan Aerospace eXploration Agency) undertook aerodynamic testing of a scale model of an airliner designed to carry 300 passengers at Mach 2. In 2021, JAXA announced a partnership with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, and Subaru to develop supersonic planes by 2030.

A few other companies are working under the radar to reduce air travel time. Despite having technical, economic, and environmental hurdles, they are in a race to build the first supersonic airliner of the 21st century. These companies face their challenges, the most pressing being the sonic boom, and they are experimenting and creating prototypes that produce less noise. Now that non-military supersonic flight will be legal over American soil, will supersonic 2.0 become a reality? 

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