Trump Clears U.S. For Supersonic Flights Ending +50 Year Ban

President Trump has issued an executive order “leading the world in supersonic flight”which requires the Federal Aviation Administration to remove restrictions on supersonic flights within U.S. airspace. The existing noise rules have been in place since 1968, and a corresponding FAA restriction on flights exceeding Mach 1 established in 1970. These rules previously prevented Concorde operations on transcontinental flights.

The FAA has reviewed this rule in recent years but made no changes to the overland flight restriction. The new Trump executive order requires the FAA to repeal its “prohibition on overland supersonic flight, establish an interim noise-based-certification standard, and repeal other regulations that hinder supersonic flight.”

The FAA would need to repeal the prohibition on overland supersonic flight in 14 CFR 91.817 within 180 days and issue a Notice of Proposed Rule Making to establish a standard for supersonic aircraft certification within 18 months of the order.

Lifting Restrictions Benefit Boom Supersonic

The lifting of restrictions will be a boon to Boom Supersonic, which has been advancing the development and testing of its supersonic aircraft. The company’s XB-1 demonstrator performed its first supersonic flight at the Mojave Air & Space Port in California in January of this year.

“XB-1’s supersonic flight demonstrates that the technology for passenger supersonic flight has arrived,” said Boom Supersonic founder and CEO Blake Scholl in a company announcement. “A small band of talented and dedicated engineers has accomplished what previously took governments and billions of dollars. Next, we are scaling up the technology on XB-1 for the Overture supersonic airliner. Our ultimate goal is to bring the benefits of supersonic flight to everyone.”

Importantly, Boom demonstrated its first supersonic flight without producing an audible sonic boom on the ground. The aircraft features Boomless Cruise which uses Mach cutoff, a factor of speed and altitude which prevents the boom from reaching the ground. Systems measure the current atmospheric conditions to find the right altitude and speed at which aircraft can break the sound barrier without being heard below.

“XB-1 broke the sound barrier three times during its first supersonic flight—without an audible boom,” said Scholl in a company announcement. “This confirms what we’ve long believed: supersonic travel can be affordable, sustainable, and friendly to those onboard and on the ground.”

Overture could fly at Mach 1.3, shortening U.S. transcontinental flights by up to 90 minutes. It would also enable international routes to fly faster during U.S. overland segments, making commercial operations more efficient.

Boom has earned 130 orders and pre-orders for Overture aircraft from American Airlines, United Airlines, and Japan Airlines, which it claims accounts for “the first five years of production.” Last year, Boom completed the construction of its Overture Superfactory in Greensboro, North Carolina. There, Boom planes to scale production up to 66 Overture aircraft per year.

Noise Footprint Aside, Questions Remain On Supersonic Sustainability

While the boom may no longer be a barrier to advancing supersonic flight in the U.S., questions remain on the sustainability of commercial flights at Mach-speed. A 2018 report by the International Council on Clean Transportation previously raised questions on whether supersonic commercial flights, which have five to seven times higher fuel burn than subsonic flights, could be justified as airlines have pledged to reduce their carbon footprint.

Boom has tried to address environmental concerns by ensuring that Overture’s propulsion system, Symphony, can run on up to 100% sustainable aviation fuel. Still, SAF is considerably more expensive than standard jet fuel. It is also not currently produced in the volume airlines require to make their subsonic flights more environmentally friendly.

During this year’s annual general meeting, Willie Walsh, Director General of the International Air Transport Association, said SAF production would double to 2 million tonnes in 2025, only 0.7% of the total fuel supply required by airlines.

“And even that relatively small amount will add $4.4 billion globally to the fuel bill,” Walsh said. “The pace of progress in ramping up production and gaining efficiencies to reduce costs must accelerate.”

In Europe, where governments have required that airlines increase their use of SAF, airlines will take one million tonnes of SAF this year. It is expected to cost $1.2 billion at current market prices. However, airlines also face an additional cost of $1.7 billion in compliance fees, more than doubling the fuel price.

To address the challenges of greater SAF adoption, airlines are asking governments for assistance to reduce the costs and increase supply. Still, it is unclear how soon there might be enough sustainable aviation fuel to operate supersonic services exclusively on SAF.

Whatever fuel airlines use to operate flights past the speed of sound will be expensive, and airlines will need to compensate for the costs of operations with higher airfares. As during the Concorde era, tomorrow’s supersonic airline flights are likely to remain the privilege of a few who can afford a considerably higher ticket price to shave a few hours off their journey.