An air travel ban in place since 1973 is in the process of being lifted, following President Trump’s latest round of executive orders.
On Friday, June 6, Trump signed an order directing the FAA to repeal a ban on supersonic air travel over land. The ban was passed more than 50 years ago in large part because the loud noise that aircraft make when they break the sound barrier, a so-called “sonic boom,” was a nuisance to communities below.
The most popular commercial supersonic aircraft of that era was the Concorde, which remained operational into the early 2000s, in destinations like London and Singapore.
The lifting of the ban will be a major step forward for emerging aircraft companies like Boom, which is trying to bring back commercial supersonic air travel without the disruptive sonic boom. In a statement, Boom said that modern aircraft are capable of traveling at Mach speeds without producing a boom that’s audible on the ground, and the lifting of the ban is the first step to “unlocking the future of fast and quiet travel.” Under the order, the FAA will “repeal the supersonic speed limit as long as the aircraft doesn’t produce an audible sonic boom.”
In addition to Boom, which successfully tested its prototype XB-1 supersonic aircraft earlier this year in the Mojave Desert with special permissions, NASA has also been testing its own supersonic aircraft. The organization’s Quesst mission aims to fly its X-59 supersonic aircraft over land by producing quieter sonic “thumps” that are less disruptive than a full-on sonic boom.
Additionally, the order instructs the FAA administrator to establish noise certifications for supersonic aircraft that take into account “community acceptability, economic reasonableness, and technological feasibility.”
Trump also signed additional executive orders regarding the nation’s airspace on Friday, including one to loosen drone restrictions that will allow operators to fly them beyond their visual line of sight, and one to facilitate the testing of electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles (eVTOL). Several United States airlines, including United and Delta, have invested in eVTOL companies, hoping to use the air taxis to ferry passengers from city centers like Manhattan to the airport.
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