High-speed travel from New York to Los Angeles in just 3 hours may become a reality by 2027, thanks to an executive order focused on resurrecting commercial supersonic flight.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is set to repeal the long-standing ban on supersonic flights over land, paving the way for a new era of high-speed air travel. The ban, imposed in 1973 due to noise concerns, is scheduled to be lifted by December 3, 2025, as directed by an executive order issued on June 6, 2025.
Following the repeal, the FAA will publish a proposed noise certification standard by December 6, 2026, and finalize the noise-based certification rules, including operating regulations, by June 2027. This timeline means the FAA is moving to replace the outright ban with noise-based certification rules that set acceptable sonic boom and noise thresholds.
These regulatory changes will enable supersonic commercial corridors over the U.S. starting in 2027, with the first certified commercial supersonic flights potentially launching by 2029. The FAA’s new standards will be based on operational testing and data collection from next-generation aircraft like NASA’s X-59 and Boom Supersonic’s demonstrators, which use technologies like "boomless cruise" to minimize noise on the ground.
The regulatory shift is supported by advances in quieter supersonic technology capable of reducing sonic booms to acceptable “thumps” or eliminating ground-level booms by flying at altitudes and speeds that cause sonic wave dissipation before ground impact.
Companies like Boom Supersonic have developed a technology called "boomless cruise" to fly above 30,000 feet and produce no ground-level sounds. NASA's X-59 jet has already taken its first test drive, and Boom Supersonic's XB-1 jet is scheduled for a test flight in 2021.
Before the ban, several countries, including the U.S., France, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union, pursued commercial applications for supersonic aviation technology. Supersonic travel could cut travel time between New York and Los Angeles almost in half, from six to 3.5 hours.
This regulatory timeline for supersonic flights is considered aggressive, similar to the four-year timeframe for commercial drone rulemaking. The U.S. is actively removing barriers to domestic supersonic flight with a clear regulatory timeline driven by innovative noise certification rules, aiming for a regulatory framework finalized by mid-2027 and commercial flights beginning shortly thereafter.
Sources:
- Live Science
- FAA
- Boom Supersonic
- NASA
