Travelers from Atlanta and New Orleans are frustrated by long wait times at TSA security checkpoints during the partial government shutdown as spring break travel spikes. (WAGA, WVUE)
American air travelers could soon make a trip faster than the speed of sound if a bill in the House moves to the Senate.
The House of Representatives voted to legalize supersonic flight in a decisive bipartisan vote on Tuesday, with the bill passing unanimously early in the evening.
Supersonic land passenger flights were banned by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 1973 due to noise pollution, and such aircraft were never manufactured in the US by American-owned airlines.
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A Boom Supersonic XB-1 Flight 12 test flight, pictured on January 28, 2025. (Boom supersonic)
The bill, led by Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, would give the FAA a year to update its rules to allow land passenger flights faster than Mach 1.
But the caveat to these flights is that they should not be heard or felt by people on the ground, eliminating noise concerns.
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January 1973 photo of the Concorde, the French-British supersonic aircraft. (STF/AFP via Getty Images/Getty Images)
“For decades, agency regulations have held back American innovation and supersonic flight. My bill puts an end to that and safely unleashes the next era of aerospace innovation. The Senate must act quickly to pass and codify this legislation. President Trump’s executive order and ensure the U.S. is the world leader in supersonic aviation,” Nehls said.
Nehls’ bill follows an executive order unveiled by President Donald Trump last June that the White House said would roll back five decades of “outdated and overly restrictive regulations.”
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The now retired Concorde aircraft, a British and French company, operated transatlantic supersonic flights for 27 years until the end of the 20th century.
But the Concorde flew its last commercial flight in 2003, after high cost overruns, maintenance costs and a significant drop in passenger flights following a fatal Air France flight involving a Concorde aircraft in July 2000, the aircraft’s only fatal accident in its operational history.
